c 


DIGEST 


A    NEW 


DIGEST 


OF  THE  ACTS  AND  DELIVERANCES 


OF    THE 


faeral 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 


COMPILED 


imenl 


REV.   WM.   E.   MOORE. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN  PUBLICATION  COMMITTEE. 

1334    CHESTNUT    STREET. 
NEW  YORK  :  A.  D.  F.  RANDOLPH,  683  BROADWAY. 


i\    °  /  j  fc?7 
/>3 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1861,  by 

WM.    L.    HILDEBURN, 

(In  trust  for  the  Presbyterian  Publication  Committee,) 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  fpr  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania, 

} 


C.  SHERMAN  &  SON,  PRINTERS, 
S.  W.  Cor.  Seventh  and  Cherry  Sts.,  Philadelphia. 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 


IT  is  with  much  satisfaction  that  this  volume  is  presented  to  the 
churches  by  the  Presbyterian  Publication  Committee.  The  need  of  a 
new,  reliable,  and  complete  DIGEST  OF  THE  ACTS  AND  DELIVERANCES 
of  the  General  Assembly  has  been  long  and  deeply  felt.  To  the  great 
body,  whether  of  our  laymen  or  of  our  ministers,  it  has  been  practically  an 
impossibility  to  have  the  decisions  of  the  highest  judicatory  of  the  Church 
upon  topics  of  the  greatest  interest  and  importance.  Full  files  of  the 
Minutes  of  the  Assemblies  of  even  a  single  generation  are  rare.  The 
records  of  earlier  Assemblies  are  far  more  rare.  And  even  were  they  in 
the  hands  of  our  church  officers,  they  would  be  useful  for  reference  only 
at  an  expenditure  of  time  that  would  seldom  be  justifiable.  Hence, 
the  want  of  a  well-arranged  and  fully-indexed  Digest  of  these  Acts  and 
Deliverances.  Such  a  Digest  the  committee  have  now.  the  satisfaction 
of  publishing.  For  its  preparation,  they  and  the  churches  are  indebted 
to  the  patient,  laborious,  and  skilful  services  of  the  Rev.  William  E. 
Moore,  of  West  Chester,  Pennsylvania.  The  time  and  toil  which  has 
thus  been  expended  by  one  will  be  saved  to  many.  Without  the  ob 
trusion  of  his  personal  opinions,  or  of  unauthentic  documents,  the  com 
piler  has,  with  modesty  and  impartiality,  allowed  the  successive  General 
Assemblies  to  declare  their  own  views  and  to  expound  their  own 
positions.  He  has  rigidly  adhered  to  the  preparation  of  a  Digest. 

By  the  aid  of  its  full  table  of  contents  and  alphabetical  index,  any 
topic  discussed  in  the  Digest  will  be  readily  found. 

The  typography  and  materials  of  the  volume,  it  is  hoped,  will  not  dis 
parage  the  excellence  of  its  contents. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  want  of  a  Digest  of  the  Acts  of  the  Supreme  Judicatory  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  was  early  felt.  In  1818  the  following  overture 
was  adopted  by  the  Assembly,  viz. : 

"Resolved,  That  Drs.  Janeway,  Neill,  and  Ely,  be  appointed  a  com 
mittee,  and  they  are  hereby  appointed,  to  extract  from  the  records  of 
the  General  Assembly  and  of  the  late  Synods  of  New  York  and  Phila 
delphia  all  such  matters  as  may  appear  to  be  of  permanent  authority  and 
interest  (including  a  short  account  of  the  manner  in  which  Missions 
have  been  conducted,  and  their  success),  that  the  same  may  be  published 
for  the  information  of  ministers  and  their  people  in  our  churches ;  and 
that  they  report  the  same  to  the  next  Assembly." — Minutes,  1818,  p. 
673. 

The  committee  reported  to  the  next  Assembly,  and  were  authorized 
to  complete  the  work  on  the  plan  reported,  and  to  publish  it  at  the 
expense  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Assembly. — Minutes,  1819,  p.  713. 

The  Digest  thus  authorized  was  published  in  1820. — Minutes,  p.  727. 

In  1836,  upon  an  overture  on  the  subject  of  a  new  Digest,  the  As 
sembly — • 

"  1.  Resolved,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  it  is  expedient 
that  a  new  Digest  of  the  acts  and  proceedings  of  the  highest  Judicatory 
of  our  Church  be  prepared  and  placed  within  the  reach  of  all  our  minis 
ters  and  elders. 

"2.  Resolved,  That  Dr.  John  McDowell,  Mr.  Winchester,  and  Mr. 
Duffield,  be  a  committee  to  prepare  such  a  Digest,  and  report  the  same 
to  the  Assembly  as  soon  as  practicable,  provided  the  expense  of  its  pub 
lication  be  not  defrayed  out  of  the.  funds  of  the  Assembly." — Minutes, 
1836,  p.  262. 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

This  committee  made  no  report.     In  1838,  the  Assembly — 

"Resolved,  That  the  Stated  Clerk  (Erskine  Mason,  D.D.)  and  Dr. 
Patton  be  a  committee  to  prepare  and  print  a  complete  Digest  of  all  the 
important  acts  of  past  General  Assemblies.'7 — Minutes,  1838,  p.  661. 

This  committee  "  reported  progress,  and  were  continued/' — Minutes, 
1839,  p.  11. 

In  1841,  they  reported  "that  they  were  engaged  in  the  duty  assigned 
them,  but  were  not  at  present  prepared  to  make  a  final  report."  The 
committee  was  continued. — Minutes,  1841,  p.  24. 

In  1849,  the  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  subject  of  the  pre 
paration  of  a  new  Digest,  reported  that  they  could  not  learn  that  any 
progress  had  been  made  in  this  matter  by  the  committee  who  were 
appointed  for  this  purpose  by  a  former  Assembly: 

That  it  is  desirable  that  a  new  and  more  complete  Digest  should  be 
prepared ;  and  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  accomplish  this  object. 

The  plan  which  has  seemed  to  them  most  likely  to  be  useful,  is  to 
publish  a  volume  containing  the  text  of  our  standards,  with  marginal 
notes,  exhibiting,  in  the  proper  place,  the  history  of  the  changes  in  the 
Constitution,  and  the  various  acts  of  General  Assemblies  explanatory  of 
our  standards ;  the  whole  forming  a  complete  commentary  on  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States. 

The  report  was  adopted ;  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  E.  F.  Hatfield,  S.  T. 
Spear,  and  A.  E.  Campbell,  were  appointed  to  prepare  such  a  volume. — 
Minutes,  1849,  p.  189. 

In  1850,  the  committee  "  reported  progress,  and  was  continued." — 
Minutes,  1850,  p.  308. 

Also  in  1851. — Minutes,  p.  10. 

In  1852,  the  committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  Digest,  reported  that 
a  Digest  sufficient  for  the  present  had  been  prepared  by  other  hands, 
and  requested  therefore  to  be  discharged.  Their  report  was  accepted, 
and  the  committee  discharged. — Minutes,  1852,  p.  254. 

The  Digest  referred  to  was  that  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Richard  Web 
ster,  of  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa.,  and  published  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Publication.  It  did  not,  however,  prove  satisfactory.  In  1854,  the 
Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures  reported  aan  overture  respecting 
a  new  Digest;  and  recommended  that  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed 
to  prepare  and  publish  such  a  Digest,  if  it  can  be  done  without  expense 
to  the  Assembly.  The  report  was  adopted." — Minutes,  1854,  p.  504. 

The  following  committee  were  appointed,  viz. :  Rev.  Messrs.  George 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

Duffield,  Jr.,  Henry  Darling,  and  Wm.  E.  Moore.  The  Stated  Clerk 
(Rev.  Edwin  F.  Hatfield;  D.D.)  was  added  to  this  committee. — Ibid., 
p.  505. 

The  committee  reported  from  year  to  year  till  1857,  when 

"The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church,  to  whom  was  referred 
the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Digest,  recommended  that  the  course 
pursued  by  the  Special  Committee,  in  the  preparation  of  the  Digest  thus 
far,  be  approved  by  the  Assembly. 

"  That  they  be  instructed  to  complete  the  work  according  to  the  plan 
heretofore  followed,  and  to  use  their  discretion  in  relation  to  the  ques 
tions  proposed  in  their  report. 

"  That  when  completed,  it  be  submitted  to  the  Permanent  Publica 
tion  Committee,  and,  if  approved  by  them,  be  published  under  their 
direction.  The  report  was  adopted/' — Minutes,  1857,  p.  400. 

The  committee  thus  appointed  and  authorized  have  been  delayed  in 
the  performance  of  the  duty  assigned  them  by  the  want  of  funds  to 
publish  the  Digest  "without  expense  to  the  Assembly," — a  delay  the 
less  to  be  regretted,  however,  inasmuch  as  it  has  enabled  them  to  add 
to  the  volume  the  acts  of  the  last  five  years, — perhaps  the  most  impor 
tant  years  of  the  Assembly's  history. 

The  difficulty  of  digesting  the  acts  and  deliverances  of  a  series  of  As 
semblies,  running  through  a  century  and  a  half,  each  independent  of 
the  other,  will  readily  be  appreciated,  and  may,  to  some  extent,  excuse 
the  imperfections  of  the  work.  That  difficulty  has  been  greatly  en 
hanced,  by  the  failure  of  the  Minutes,  in  most  cases,  to  present  any  clear 
and  intelligible  view  of  the  questions  which  have  come  before  the 
Assembly  for  its  adjudication. 

The  plan  adopted  will,  it  is  hoped,  meet  the  approval  of  those  who 
have  occasion  to  use  the  work.  The  effort  has  been  made  to  digest, 
under  thirteen  general  heads  or  chapters,  everything  of  importance  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Assembly.  The  task  assigned  the  committee  was  not  to 
prepare  a  history,  but  a  DIGEST  of  such  Acts  of  the  Assembly  as  inter 
pret  the  Constitution  of  the  Church,  or  express  her  views  upon  questions 
of  morals  and  doctrines,  or  aim  to  increase  and  direct  her  power  for  good 
to  the  world.  Much  has  been  omitted  that  is  now  obsolete,  or  that  was 
temporary,  or  that  pertains  to  institutions  not  now  under  our  control. 
For  the  most  part,  reports,  protests,  proposals,  and  other  papers  not  the 
Acts  of  the  Assembly,  have  been  omitted.  Where  the  very  words  of 
the  records  are  not  used,  the  fact  is  signified  by  brackets. 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

The  labors  of  the  committee  extend  over  the  whole  period  of  the 
organized  existence  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  from  1706  to  1860. 
The  references  in  the  Digest,  from  1706  to  1835,  are  to  the  three 
volumes  of  Minutes  published  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication, 
viz.  :  "  Records  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  from  1706  to  1788," 
" Minutes  of  the  General  Asseml/t/,  from  1789  to  1820,"  and  "Minutes 
of  the  General  Assembly,  from  1821  to  1835."  From  1836  to  1860, 
the  references  are  to  the  annual  Minutes. 

The  committee  have  freely  availed  themselves  of  the  labors  of  their 
predecessors,  so  far  as  they  have  trodden  common  ground.  They  would 
cheerfully  acknowledge  their  obligations  to  the  Rev.  S.  J.  Baird,  the 
compiler  of  the  Digest  recently  published  by  the  Board  of  Publication. 

It  is  proper  to  say  that  the  chief  responsibility  of  preparing  the  Digest 
has  devolved  upon  one  member  of  the  committee. 

The  aim  has  been  to  furnish  the  office-bearers  and  intelligent  laymen 
of  our  beloved  Church  a  volume  which  will  be  of  practical  use  to  them 
in  their  endeavors  to  serve  the  cause  of  the  Master  through  her  organi 
zations. 

We  rejoice  in  the  confidence  that  no  lover  of  Christ,  of  orthodoxy,  of 
good  morals,  of  large-hearted  catholic  liberality,  of  beneficence,  of  edu 
cation,  and  of  liberty,  can  ponder  these  acts  and  deliverances  of  the 
Supreme  Judicature  of  our  Church  without  wisdom  and  profit  and 
grateful  admiration.  No  Presbyterian  can  read  this  record  without 
thanking  God  for  his  heritage.  May  the  Head  of  the  Church  so  use 
our  labors  as  to  advance  His  kingdom  and  glory,  through  the  enlarge 
ment  of  our  branch  of  His  universal  Church  ! 

W.  E.  M. 

WEST  CHESTER,  PA.,  December  31st,  1860. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

OF    THE     CHURCH. 

PAGE 

SECTION  1. — STANDARDS  OF  THE  CHURCH,      .        .   17 

Overture  on  subscribing  the  Confession  of  Faith,  1728. — 2.  The  Confession 
of  Faith  ;  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Westminster  Assembly 
adopted.  The  Adopting  Act,  1729. — 3.  The  Directory  recommended. — 4. 
Intrants, or  candidates,  required  to  adopt  the  Standards. — 5.  The  Adopting 
Act  to  be  inscribed  on  each  Presbytery  book. — 6.  An  Act  explanatory  of 
the  Adopting  Act. — 7.  Plan  of  union  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey,  1758. — 8.  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  adopted.  1788. — 
9.  Proof-texts  added  by  order  of  the  Assembly. — 10.  The  text  alone  con 
tains  the  Constitution  of  the  Church ;  the  marginal  notes  have  no  authority. 
— 11.  Use  and  obligation  of  the  Standards  defined;  to  traduce  them  subjects 
to  censure. — 12.  Subscription  to  the  Standards  required  of  every  minister 
entering  the  Church. — 13.  .The  Catechisms  are  an  integral  part  of  the  Con 
stitution,  and  are  to  be  taught  to  the  young. — 14.  The  term  "  standing  rule" 
defined.  The  Assembly  has  power  to  enact  standing  rules. 


SECTION  2. — OF  A  PARTICULAR  CHURCH,      .        .  85 

A  particular  Church  defined. — 2.  How  new  congregations  are  to  be  organ 
ized.  Application  should  always  be  made  to  the  Presbytery.  Order  of 
procedure:  members  to  be  received  by  letter:  candidates  to  be  examined: 
a  covenant  to  be  entered  into:  ruling  elders  and  deacons  to  be  elected  and 
ordained:  the  Church  to  be  enrolled.  In  exceptional  cases  congregations 
may  be  formed  without  ruling  elders. — 3.  The  organization  of  churches 
belongs  to  the  Presbytery,  and  is  not  the  prerogative  of  the  minister  as  such. 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

PAGK 

SECTION  3. — OP  THE  MEMBERS  or  THE  CHURCH,        .  38 

1.  Universalists  not  to  be  admitted ;  decision  reaffirmed. — 2.  Those  who  re 
fuse  to  present  their  children  for  baptism  are  not  to  be  refused  communion, 
but  the  expediency  of  receiving  them  to  the  Church  to  be  judged  of  by  the 
Session. — 3.  Postmasters  officiating  on  the  Sabbath  to  be  excluded. — 4. 
Owners  of  mail-coaches  running  on  the  Sabbath  not  to  be  admitted  to  com 
munion  of  the  Church. — 5.  By  whom  members  are  to  be  admitted  to  the 
Church:  by  an  individual  Session  regularly  constituted:  by  the  Session  of 
that  Church  to  which  he  will  belong;  great  circumspection  to  be  used,  un 
due  haste  to  be  avoided. — 6.  A  regular  certificate  of  dismission  should  be 
required  of  those  coming  from  another  Church. — 7.  Rule  as  to  absent  mem 
bers  whose  residence  is  unknown.  Every  member  is  amenable  to  some 
tribunal ;  he  can  cease  to  be  a  church  member  only  by  death,  exclusion, 
dismission,  or  orderly  withdrawing  to  join  another  denomination.  To  with 
draw  from  the  use  of  privileges  is  censurable,  and  may  infer  suspension. 
Members  absent  and  unheard  of  for  years,  are  not  to  be  stricken  from  the 
roll.  Those  that  withdraw  wilfully  from  Church  privileges  are  to  be  sus 
pended. — 8.  Members  who  wish  to  be  released  from  their  obligation.  The 
provisions  of  the  book  declared  sufficient. 


CHAPTER  II. 

OFFICERS    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

SECTION  1. — OF  DEACONS,  .        .   47 

1.  They  have  no  juridical  power. — 2.  Their  duties  consist  in  distributing  the 
charities  of  the  Church  to  which  they  belong  to  the  poor  of  that  Church. — 
3.  They  are  to  be  ordained  in  the  same  manner  as  Ruling  Elders. — 4.  The 
duties  of  Trustees  and  Deacons  not  identical.  A  Board  of  Trustees  not 
inconsistent  with  Presbyterianism.  The  minister  not  ex-officio  President, 
or  a  member  of  the  Board. 

SECTION  2. — Or  RULING  ELDERS,    .        .        .48 

1.  The  Eldership  is  essential  to  the  Presbyterian  system. — 2.  Elders  must-be 
duly  elected. — 3.  Mode  of  election:  a  direct  vote  of  the  congregation,  in 
every  case,  recommended.  The  Session  has  authority  to  convene  the  con 
gregation.  Should  it  refuse  or  neglect  to  convene  the  congregation,  the 
party  aggrieved  may  complain  to  Presbytery. — 4.  Who  are  the  electors  of 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

PAGE 

Ruling  Elders  and  Deacons?  It  seems  desirable  that  communicants  only 
should  be  electors;  but  the  voting  of  others,  where  such  is  custom,  does  not 
make  the  election  void.  Unbaptized  persons  are  not  to  be  allowed  to  vote 
for  Elders.  No  distinction  is  to  be  made  as  to  the  age  of  the  voters. — 5. 
The  office  of  Ruling  Elder  is  perpetual :  it  cannot  be  laid  aside  by  the  will 
of  the  individual ;  nor  can  a  congregation  form  a  rule  making  it  lawful  to 
lay  it  aside.  Election  for  a  term  of  years  irregular,  but  not  invalid.  A 
rotary  eldership  not  contemplated  by  the  Constitution,  and  therefore  to  be 
discouraged. — 6.  A  Ruling  Elder  may  cease  to  act  as  such. — 7.  An  Elder 
who  has  no  official  charge  cannot  sit  in  the  Church  courts. — 8.  An  Elder 
cannot  hold  office  in  two  churches  at  the  same  time,  nor  adjudicate  in  a 
church  of  which  he  is  not  an  Elder. — 9.  Elders  censured  for  leaving  with 
out  permission  :  and  the  churches  urged  to  defray  their  expenses  in  attend 
ing  Church  courts — 10.  Elders  have  the  same  right  to  sit  in  Synod  as  in 
Presbytery. —  ]  1.  Every  church  having  a  stated  supply  is  entitled  to  be 
represented  in  Presbytery  or  Synod  by  a  Ruling  Elder. — 12.  A  Minister, 
with  one  Elder,  may  form  a  Session,  if  there  be  but  one  Elder,  but  not 
otherwise. — 13.  When  an  Elder  has  been  suspended  from  Church  privi 
leges  and  is  restored,  he  is  not  thereby  restored  to  office,  nor  can  he  be, 
without  a  special  act  of  Session,  with  the  acquiescence  of  the  church. — 
14.  Elders  not  to  participate  in  the  ordination  of  Ministers  by  the  laying  on 
of  hands. 


SECTION  3. — OF  PASTORS,          .        .        .57 

1.  Mode  of  proceeding  to  elect  a  Pastor.  The  Session  to  judge  when  the 
congregation  is  prepared  to  elect  a  pastor.  To  use  all  due  diligence  for  a 
speedy  settlement.  If  remiss,  a  complaint  will  lie.  The  Presbytery  to 
take  cognizance  of  the  proceedings. — 2.  Who  may  vote  in  the  election  of  a 
Pastor?  The  major  vote  determines  the  election. — 3.  A  pastoral  relation 
allowed  where  no  instalment  had  taken  place. — 4.  The  translation  of  a 
Pastor.  Consent  of  parties  may  shorten  the  constitutional  process  for  trans 
lating  a  minister.  Every  case  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  Presbytery. — 5. 
Removal  without  consent  of  Presbytery  censurable. — 6.  Pastoral  faithfulness 
in  visiting  and  lecturing  enjoined  — 7.  Catechetical  instruction  enjoined. — 8. 
Stated  supplies  have  no  pastoral  relation. 


SECTION  4. — OF  MINISTERS  WITHOUT  CHARGE,         .   63 

Ministers  without  charge  have  a  seat  and  a  vote  in  the  Church  Judicatures. 
— 2.  No  Minister  can  be  regularly  divested  of  his  office  but  by  a  course  of 
discipline  terminating  in  deposition.  If  incapacitated  he  still  possesses 
ministerial  privileges.  If  he  neglect  his  duties,  Presbytery  is  to  use  every 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

FAGS 

means  to  recall  him  to  duty.  When  ministers  withdraw  wholly  or  in  part 
from  the  work  of  the  ministry,  Presbytery  is  to  make  inquiry,  and  record 
their  approbation  or  disapprobation.  It  belongs  to  Presbytery  to  judge 
ministers. — 3.  Demission  of  the  ministry;  Case  of  Robert  Laing ;  also,  of 
William  Woodhull.  In  the  case  of  John  Montgomery,  Presbytery  censured 
for  allowing  him  to  demit.  The  Assembly  refuses  leave  to  the  Presbytery 
of  Portage.  Full  deliverance  on  the  subject. — 4.  Holding  civil  office  not  in 
compatible  with  the  ministry;  but  world ly-mindedness  discouraged. — 5.  A 
Minister  may  be  a  chaplain  in  the  army. — 6.  An  ordination  to  a  chaplaincy 
not  sine  titulo. — 7.  A  chaplain  not  to  be  at  the  same  time  pastor  of  a 
church. — 8.  Office  of  chaplain  in  the  navy  encouraged. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ON    CANDIDATES. 
SECTION  1. — BEFORE  LICENSURE,  AND  AS  LICENTIATES,   .   73 

1.  A  liberal  education  required. — 2.  Waived  in  certain  cases. — 3.  Time  of 
study.  Three  years  proposed,  but  not  adopted.  Rule  of  a  Synod  requiring 
three  years,  unconstitutional.  Presbyteries  refuse  to  extend  the  time. — 4. 
Minute  on  the  jurisdiction  over  candidates  and  licentiates.  They  belong  to 
the  order  of  the  laity  until  ordained,  and  are  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Session  of  the  church  to  which  they  belong.  In  case  Presbytery  arrest 
the  studies  of  a  candidate,  or  withdraw  the  license  of  a  licentiate,  it  must 
remit  him  to  the  Session,  if  discipline  be  necessary.  If  Session  commence 
process  against  a  candidate  or  licentiate,  it  must  notify  the  Presbytery  under 
whose  care  he  is. — 5.  Candidates  are  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  to 
which  they  most  naturally  belong. — 6.  For  candidates  to  seek  licensure  of 
foreign  bodies  disapproved. — 7.  Candidates  should  be  placed  under  the  care 
of  Presbytery  as  soon  as  possible,  and  licensed  by  the  Presbyteries  to  which 
they  most  naturally  belong. — 8.  Candidates  of  one  Presbytery  should  not  be 
licensed  by  another. — 9.  Certain  irregularities  in  licensing  condemned,  viz.: 
Trial  and  licensure  at  the  same  meeting;  ordination  without  previous 
licensure;  and  licensing  fora  certain  term. — 10.  Irregularity  does  not  in 
validate  licensure  or  ordination.  Preaching  without  license  irregular. — 11. 
Lay  preaching,  and  preaching  before  licensure,  condemned.  On  lay  agency. 
— 12.  Licensure  by  a  self-constituted  committee,  in  a  special  case,  approved. 
— 13.  When  students  are  to  be  reported  as  "  candidates." 

SECTION  2. — OF  ORDINATION,      :        .        .85 

1.  Ordination  by  a  Committee  frequent  with  the  Synod. — 2.  Ordination  by 
foreign  bodies  not  approved. — Ordination,  sine  tiiulo,  generally  disapproved 


CONTENTS.  XT 

riai 

of.  Ordination  permitted  to  such  as  should  go  as  missionaries.  Permis 
sion  asked  and  granted  in  special  cases. — 4.  Overture  on  ordination,  sine 
titulo,  rejected. — Censure  of  a  Presbytery  for  ordaining  a  man,  sine  titulo, 
not  sustained  by  the  Assembly. — 6,  Ordination  on  the  Sabbath  disapproved 
of. — 7.  Reordination  of  a  Methodist  elder.  8.  These  decisions  set  aside. — 
9.  Ministers  coming  from  other  churches  not  to  be  reordained.  But  all 
qualifications,  as  to  learning  and  piety,  which  are  required  of  our  own  can 
didates,  to  be  required  of  them. — 9.  Lay  ordination  invalid. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ON    THE    SACRAMENTS. 

SECTION  1. — ON  BAPTISM,         .         .         .94 

1.  Baptism  by  an  impostor;  by  an  Unitarian  ;  by  a  suspended  minister;  by  a 
deposed  minister,  invalid.  The  unworthiness  of  a  minister  does  not  inva 
lidate  the  ordinances  administered  by  him. — 2.  Is  Rornish  baptism  Chris 
tian  baptism  ? — 3.  Obligations  and  qualifications  of  parents.  Should  be 
persons  of  regular  life  and  Christian  knowledge.  Credible  profession  to 
be  judged  of  by  the  merits  of  the  case.  Parents  required  to  enter  into  en 
gagements  to  perform  their  duties  to  their  children. — 4.  The  subjects  of 
baptism.  Children  of  servants.  Age  of  infancy  undetermined. — 5.  Pastoral 
care  to  be  exercised  over  baptized  children.  To  be  instructed  and  cate 
chized. — 6.  Discipline  of  baptized  persons,  not  communicants. — 7.  Mode  of 
baptism.  Dipping  of  the  person  not  necessary,  but  baptism  is  rightly  ad 
ministered  by  pouring  or  sprinkling. — 8.  Baptism  of  adults  is  ordinarily  to 
be  in  connection  with  their  reception  into  the  church. 

SECTION  2. — ON  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER,        .        .  103 

1.  Permitted  where  there  is  no  organized  church. — 2.  Not  ordinarily  to  be  ad 
ministered  within  the  bounds  of  a  congregation  without  the  consent  of  the 
minister  and  session. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OF  THE  COURTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

SECTION  1. — Or  THE  SESSION,     .        .        .  105 

1.  Quorum  of  the  Session.     One  elder,  if  there  be  but  one,  with  a  minister, 
may  constitute  a  quorum. — 2.  The  appointment  of  a  special  Session  is  un- 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

constitutional.  3.  The  Session  should  be  represented  in  Presbytery  and  Synod. 
— 4.  A  Session  may  not  invite  a  minister  to  sit  as  corresponding  member ; 
nor  assign  him  as  counsel  for  the  accused. — 5.  No  one  not  a  member  of  the 
judicatory  may  act  as  counsel. — 6.  A  ruling  elder  has  in  no  case  a  legal 
right  to  adjudicate  in  a  church  other  than  that  in  which  he  is  an  elder. — 7. 
Session  records  to  be  sent  up  annually  for  review. — 8.  The  Session  has  not 
the  power  to  introduce  a  new  psalmody  without  the  consent  of  the  major 
part  of  the  congregation. — 9.  Where  a  minister  is  the  accuser,  a  minister 
should  preside. — 10.  The  Session  cannot  be  set  aside,  and  the  right  of  ap 
peal  denied  by  the  act  of  the  church.  Nor  would  such  attempt  deprive 
the  church  of  its  right  to  be  represented  by  its  elders  in  the  judicatories  of 
the  church. 

SECTION  2. — OF  THE  PRESBYTERY,          .         .  110 

I.  ITS  MEMBERS. — 1.  Ruling  elders  in  the  absence  of  the  pastor  admitted. — 
2.  Ministers  without  charge  are  members  of  Presbytery. — 3.  An  elder  who 
has   retired  is  not  entitled  to  a  seat. — 4.  The  Presbytery  alone  the  judge  of 
the  fitness  of  admitting  a  member. — 5.  A  Presbytery  may  reject  an  appli 
cant  for  cause. — 6.  But  not  without  sufficient  reasons. — 7.  vThe  Assembly 
refuse  to  alter  the  rule. — 8.  Rule  as  to  a  member  of  an  extinct  Presbytery, 
bearing  a  dismission  to  another.     The  Presbytery  should  receive  him;  but 
if  it  refuse  he  may  appeal  to  Synod,  or  to  the  General  Assembly.     Minutes 
dismissed   by  an  extinct  Presbytery,  and  not  received  into  any  others,  are 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Synod. — 9.  Ministers  and  licentiates  coming 
from  corresponding  bodies,  are  required  to  answer  the  constitutional   ques 
tions. — 10.  Ministers  dismissed   in   good   standing,  should  be  received  on 
their  testimonials. — 11.  It  is  the  right  of  Presbytery  to  satisfy  itself  of  the 
soundness  in  the  faith  and  good  character  of  those  who  apply  for  admission. 
— 12.  Examination  made  imperative  in  all  cases — 13.  This  rule  declared 
unconstitutional. — 14.  Rule   as  to  the  reception  of  foreign  ministers.     The 
rule  enforced.     Decided  that  the  year  may  be  spent  in  different  Presbyte 
ries. —  35.  Modification  of  the  rule  refused. 

II.  ITS  JURISDICTION,  p.   122. — 1.   The  jurisdiction   of  the    Presbytery   ex 
tends  over   members  who  are  non-resident  within  its  bounds.     May  be 
transferred  to  the  Presbytery  in  whose  bounds  he  lives.     Chap,  v,  sec.  3,  4, 
Book  of  Discipline  does  not  transfer  jurisdiction. — 2.  The  Presbytery  is  the 
proper  court  to  try  Ruling  Elders,  when  the  Session  is   incompetent  to  act. 
— 3.  When  ministers,  churches,  or  church  members,  withdraw  irregularly 
to  join  other  bodies,  their  names  to  be  stricken  from  the  roll,  and  notice 
given. — 4.  When  ministers  withdraw  from  the  work  of  the  ministry,  they 
are   to  give  their  reasons,   which   the   Presbytery   must   record,  with    its 
approbation   or  disapprobation. — 5.  A   minister   who  has  withdrawn  and 
wishes  to  return,  must  apply  to  the  Presbytery  from  which  he   withdrew. 


CONTENTS.  Xvil 

PAGE 

— 6.  Leave  to  prosecute  ministers  of  other  Presbyteries,  refused. — 7.  Juris 
diction  over  a  deposed  minister,  is  in  the  Presbytery  which  deposed  him 
— 8.  A  minister  having  asked  of  his  Presbytery  a  letter  of  dismission,  is  a 
member  of  that  Presbytery  until  received  by  another. 

HI.  DISMISSION  OF  MEMBERS,  p.  127. — 1.  When  a  Presbytery  dismisses  a 
member  it  should  specify  particularly  the  body  to  which  he  is  dismissed, 
and  the  member  dismissed  is  amenable  to  the  body  dismissing  him,  until 
connected  with  the  body  he  is  directed  to  join. — 2.  The  Presbytery  may 
not  dismiss  by  a  "  standing  committee." — 3.  Where  sentence  has  been  re 
versed,  and  trial  not  commenced  within  a  certain  time,  a  member  may 
claim  a  dismission  in  good  standing. 

IV.  BOUNDARIES,  p.  128. —  1.  Should  have  geographical  limits. — 2.  "Elective 
affinity"  condemned. — 3.   Exceptions  allowed  ;  permission  withdrawn. — 4. 
Ministers  living  out  of  the  bounds  of  their  Presbyteries  to  show  reason, 
or  be  transferred  to  the  Presbyteries  within  whose  bounds  they  reside  — 5. 
One  Presbytery  may  not  dismiss  a  church  to  another  without  the  permission 
of  Synod. 

V.  MISCELLANEOUS,  p.  132. — 1.  Presbytery  to  inquire  into  the  fidelity  of  its 
members. — 2.  A  Presbytery,  organized  without  the  agency  of  Synod,  recog 
nized. — 3.  Where  a  majority  has  withdrawn,  duty  of  the  minority. — 4.  Reso 
lutions,  excluding  slaveholders  from  the  pulpit  and  from  communion,  un 
constitutional. — 5.  To  frame  church  covenants  belongs  to  Presbyteries  and 
Synods. — 6.  Two  clerical  members  are  not  a  quorum. 


SECTION  3. — Or  THE  SYNOD,       .        .        .  135 

1.  The  Synod  is  a  convention  of  Bishops  and  Elders. — 2.  Where  a  Synod  has 
failed  to  meet  on  its  adjournment,  the  Moderator  may  fix  the  time  and  place. 
Less  than  a  quorum  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day. — 3.  Special  or  called 
meetings  of  Synod  are  constitutional. — 4.  The  Moderator  has  no  power  to 
change  the  place  of  meeting. — 5.  A  Synod  may  net  refuse  the  members  of 
its  Presbyteries. — Nor,  6.  Order  their  erasure  from  the  roll  of  Presbytery. 
— 7.  The  Synod  may  not  act  judicially  on  review,  when  there  is  no  appeal 
or  reference  before  it. — 8.  The  Records  are  to  be  sent  up  annually  for 
review. — 9.  The  members  of  an  inferior  Judicatory  may  not  vote  on  the 
approval  of  their  own  Minutes. — 10.  When  exceptions  are  taken  to  the 

^  Records  of  inferior  Judicatories,  the  exceptions  should  be  stated,  and  the 
reasons  assigned. — 11.  Sessions  on  the  Sabbath  censured. — 12.  The  Records 
should  state  the  ecclesiastical  body  to  which  a  corresponding  member  be 
longs. — 13.  They  should  state  that  the  meetings  wrere  opened  and  closed 
with  prayer. — 14.  The  Minutes  should  be  read  and  approved. — 15.  They 
should  be  attested  by  the  stated  clerk. — 16.  A  narrative  of  the  State  of  Re- 

B 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

PAG  a 

ligion  should  be  prepared  and  recorded. — 17.  Names  of  absentees  should 
be  recorded. — And  18.  Their  reasons  for  absence  called  for. — 19.  Erection 
of  the  Synods. — 1.  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  1788;  2.  Philadelphia, 
1788;  3.  Virginia,  1788;  4.  The  Carolinas,  1788;  5.  Pittsburg,  1802;  6. 
Kentucky,  1802;  7.  Albany,  1803;  8.  Geneva,  1812;  9.  North  Carolina, 
1813;  10.  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  1813;  11.  Ohio,  1814;  12.  Ten 
nessee,  1817;  13.  Genesee,  1821;  14.  New  York,  1823 ;  15.  New  Jersey, 
1823  ;  IG.  Western  Reserve,  1825  ;  17.  West  Tennessee,  1826  ;  18.  Indiana, 
1826;  19.  Utica,  1829;  20.  Mississippi  and  South  Alabama,  1829;  21.  Cin 
cinnati,  1829;  22.  Illinois,  1831;  23.  Missouri,  1832;  24.  Chesapeake, 
1833;  25.  Michigan,  1834;  26.  Delaware,  1834;  27.  Alabama,  1835;  28. 
Pennsylvania,  1838;  29.  Newark,  1839;  30.  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 
1840;  31.  Peoria,  1843;  32.  West  Pennsylvania,  1843;  33.  Wabash,  1851 ; 
34.  Iowa,  1853;  35.  Susquehanna,  1853;  36.  Onondaga,  1855;  37.  Wis 
consin,  1857;  38.  Alta  California,  1858. 


SECTION  4. — Or  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY,    .        .  155 

Formation  of  the  Assembly  by  the  General  Synod. — 2.  Organization  of  the 
General  Assembly.  Time  of  meeting.  Mode  of  procedure.  Committee 
on  commissions.  Standing  committee,  consisting  of  the  stated  and  perma 
nent  clerks. — 3.  Commissioners  from  new  Presbyteries  required  to  give 
satisfactory  proof  of  the  regular  organization  of  their  Presbytery. — 4.  Ratio 
of  representation.  Fourteen  commissioners,  of  whom  seven  must  be  minis 
ters,  constitute  a  quorum.  Style  and  title :  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN 
THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. — 5.  Where  a  Presbytery  sends  more 
than  its  proportion  of  commissioners,  the  last  elected  are  refused. — 6.  Such 
commissioners  only  should  be  elected  as  will  remain  throughout  the  ses 
sions. — 7.  In  case  of  the  defect  of  a  commission,  or  its  absence,  the  usage. 
8. — Principals  and  alternates,  former  usage ;  present  rule,  that  they  shall 
not  resign  their  seats  to  each  other. — 9.  Commissioners  under  the  Plan  of 
Union.  Admission  of  committee  men,  not  ruling  elders,  discountenanced. 
10.  Corresponding  members.  Ministers  casually  present  not  to  be  invited 
to  sit.  Delegates  from  corresponding  bodies  have  the  right  to  deliberate, 
but  not  to  vote.  The  secretary  of  any  of  the  Assembly's  committees  has 
the  same  privileges  as  a  corresponding  member,  when  the  business  of  his 
committee  is  under  consideration  ;  also,  the  stated  and  permanent  clerks,  in 
matters  pertaining  to  their  official  duties. — 11.  Mode  of  choosing  the  mode-  > 
rator  of  the  Assembly. — 12.  Rules  of  the  General  Assembly.  Address  of 
the  moderator  to  his  successor. — 13.  The  moderator  has  no  other  than  the 
casting  vote. — 14.  Communications  to  the' Assembly  through  the  moderator. 
— 15.  The  phrase,  "last  moderator  present,"  construed  literally. — 16.  The 
stated  clerk.  Appointment.  Duties :  To  publish  the  Minutes,  and  to  have 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

PAGE 

charge  of  all  the  documents  of  the  Assembly.  To  notify  Presbyteries  as  to 
delinquent  commissioners.  His  salary. — 17.  Permanent  clerk.  Appoint 
ment  and  duties. — 18.  Temporary  clerks.  Choice  of  clerks  not  limited  to 
members  of  the  Assembly. — 19.  The  standing  committees,  i.  e,  those  ap 
pointed  at  the  opening  of  each  Assembly,  and  their  duties.  I.  Committee 
on  Bills  and  Overtures.  II.  Judicial  Committee.  III.  On  the  Polity  of  the 
Church.  IV.  On  Church  Extension.  V.  On  Education.  VI.  On  Publi 
cation.  VII.  On  Devotional  Exercises.  VIII.  On  the  Narrative.  IX.  On 
Leave  of  Absence.  X.  On  Mileage.  XI.  On  Foreign  Missions. — 20.  The 
Commissioners'  Fund.  How  distributed.  Plans  devised  and  adopted. 
The  present  plan. — 21.  Contingent  Fund.  Design  of. — 22.  Publication,  dis 
tribution,  and  price  of  the  Minutes. — 23.  Charter  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States. — 24.  Mode  of  electing  Trustees,  and  Rules  of  Inter 
course. — 25.  Powers  of  the  General  Assembly. — 26.  The  Assembly  will 
not  ordinarily  decide  questions  in  thesi. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

OF    DISCIPLINE. 
SECTION  1. — GENERAL  PRINCIPLES,  .        .        .191 

1.  Censure  without  trial  informal,  as  also  in  the  absence  of  the  party.  Names 
should  not  be  connected  with  charges  without  evidence  and  intent  to  prose 
cute.  To  circulate  evil  reports,  not  in  the  way  of  duty,  is  slander.  Minis 
ters  may  not  be  excluded  from  the  pulpit,  nor  members  from  the  commu 
nion,  without  trial  and  conviction. — 2.  The  charges  must  be  specific.  All 
charges  for  heresy  must  be  as  definite  as  possible. — 3.  The  Constitutional 
Rules  must  be  observed.  Cases  cited.  An  appeal  may  not  be  sustained, 
when  due  notice  has  not  been  given.  Evidence  of  notice.  Where  there  is 
no  reference  or  appeal,  a  judicatory  may  not  try  on  review.  Unconstitu 
tional  action  to  be  reversed.  An  order  for  a  new  trial  does  not  restore  the 
defendant. — 4.  The  authority  for  administering  judicial  oaths  by  the  mode 
rator  of  a  session. — 5.  Testimony  in  a  judicial  case  should  be  under  oath. 
— 6.  A  husband  and  wife  may  both  be  witnesses  in  a  case  affecting  either, 
but  great  caution  is  to  be  observed,  to  guard  against  collusion. — 7.  The 
accused  should  be  present  at  the  trial.  Where  he  has  excused  himself  by 
letter  for  non-attendance,  he  is  not  contumacious. — 8.  A  sentence  dispro- 
portioned  to  the  crime  will  not  be  sustained,  nor  where  the  charges  are  not 
fully  supported.  New  censure  may  not  be  passed  without  a  new  trial. — 9. 
Suspension  from  the  ministry.  I.  During  process,  where  the  charges  are 
heinous.  II.  Fora  specified  time. — 10.  Restoration  to  communion  does  not 


XX  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

restore  a  suspended  elder  to  his  office.  He  can  be  restored  to  office  only 
by  an  express  act  of  the  Session,  and  the  acquiescence  of  the  Church. — 11. 
A  suspended  minister  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  possessing  the  rights  of  a 
private  Christian  in  good  standing. — 12.  Deposition  and  excommunication 
are  distinct  acts,  and  to  be  inflicted  by  the  Presbytery. — 13.  If  a  deposed 
minister  persist  in  exercising  the  ministerial  functions,  his  name  is  to  be 
published.. — 14.  Refusal  to  submit  to  sentence,  bars  the  right  to  petition. — 
15.  But  does  not  invalidate  the  sentence. — 16.  A  Presbytery  is  censured  for 
restoring  a  man  without  due  evidence  of  his  repentance. — But,  17.  When 
once  restored,  he  can  be  deprived  of  office  only  by  a  new  process  and  con 
viction — 18.  New  trial  may  be  had  on  the  discovery  of  new  evidence.  If 
it  seem  desirable  for  a  court  to  review  its  own  decisions,  it  should  refer  the 
case  to  the  next  higher  judicatory. — 19.  A  Synod  corrects  it*hasty  action, 
and  is  sustained,  but  a  judicatory  may  not  call  back  a  case  after  an  appeal 
has  been  taken. — 20.  The  accused  on  trial  has  no  right  to  introduce  testi 
mony  inculpating  others  not  on  trial. — 21.  The  Assembly  cannot  reverse 
the  judicial  acts  of  a  former  Assembly,  unless  in  case  of  error. — 22.  The 
decisions  of  the  superior  courts  are  binding  on  the  inferior. — 23.  The  judi 
cial  sentences  of  sister  Churches  are  to  be  respected. 


SECTION  2. — OF  APPEALS,         .         .         .  209 

1.  An  appeal  defined  and  distinguished  from  a  "complaint." — 2.  The  right 
of  appeal  is  limited  to  the  original  parties. — 3.  Limitation  of  time.  Must 
be  prosecuted  at  the  first  ensuing  meeting  of  the  judicatory,  appealed  to, 
or  the  sentence  will  be  confirmed.  Personal  attendance  is  not  essential. — 
4.  The  appeal  must  be  lodged  with  the  clerk,  on  the  first  or  second  day  of 
the  sessions  of  the  court  appealed  to. — 5.  Due  notice  must  be  given  of  the 
intent  to  appeal. — 6.  On  the  failure  of  the  inferior  judicatory  to  send  up  their 
records  and  copies  of  the  testimony,  the  appeal  was  sustained. — 7.  An 
appeal  postponed,  where  the  appellant  failed  to  give  notice  to  the  court 
appealed  from. — 8.  The  case  may  be  postponed  at  the  instance  of  the 
appellant. — 9.  May  an  appeal  be  carried  over  the  next  higher  court  1 
Various  decisions.  General  principle. — 10.  The  best  evidence  the  case 
admits  of  required,  and  in  all  trials,  this  is  the  record  of  the  judicatory  which 
tried  the  case. — 11.  A  copy  made  by  the  appellant  not  admitted  as  suffi 
cient. — 12.  Neglect  of  the  inferior  judicatory  shall  not  harm  the  appellant. 
— 13.  Testimony  not  on  record  may  be  received  by  agreement. — 14.  Leave 
to  introduce  testimony  going  to  show  that  the  appellant  has  not  submitted 
to  the  sentence  of  the  court,  refused. — 15.  An  appeal  arrests  all  further 
process  until  it  is  issued. — 16.  But  does  not  arrest  the  sentence,  where  the 
delay  is  asked  for  by  the  appellant. — 17.  No  one  may  sit  on  the  trial  who 
was  a  member  of  the  judicature  when  the  vote  appealed  from  took  place, 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

PAGE 

nor  one  who  is  interested  in  the  case. — 18.  The  death  of  the  respondent 
bars  the  prosecution  of  an  appeal  by  his  prosecutor. — 19.  An  express  vote 
must  be  taken  in  an  appeal.  The  sentence  must  be  definite,  precise,  and 
just. — 20.  Certain  irregularities  of  the  inferior  judicatures  censured. — 21. 
Appeal  of  George  Sheldon.  Points  of  order  decided. — 22.  Appeal  of  Lewis 
Tappan.  Appeal  sustained  and  both  parties  censured. — '23.  Order  for 
issuing  an  appeal. 


SECTION  3. — Or  COMPLAINTS,       .         .         .  228 

1.  Distinction  between  a  complaint  and  an  appeal  must  be  observed. — 2. 
The  complaint  should  be  carried  to  the  next  superior  court,  unless  valid 
reasons  be  given  for  a  different  course. — 3.  The  complaint  dismissed  for 
want  of  evidence  of  the  complaint  itself:  for  want  of  evidence  of  due  notice 
of  the  intent  to  complain. — 1.  Through  failure  of  the  prosecutor  to  appear 
in  person  or  by  proxy. — 5.  On  account  of  informality. — G.  After  conference 
with  the  parties. — 7.  In  the  absence  of  the  records. — 8.  Complaint  sus 
tained  for  reasons  assigned. — 9.  Referred  back  by  consent  of  parties. — 10. 
Referred  to  the  court  below  with  instructions.  — 11.  Judgment  of  a  Synod 
reversed,  because  they  decline  the  merits  of  the  case;  because  they  do  not 
adhere  to  the  rules  ;  because  they  do  not  distinguish  between  their  appellate 
and  original  jurisdiction,  and  because  they  restore  an  appellant  without 
evidence  of  repentance. — 12.  The  superior  court  may  reverse  either  in 
whole  or  in  part,  but  must  observe  the  rules  of  discipline. — 13.  The 
record  should  state  the  nature  of  the  complaint  and  the  grounds  of  the 
decision. — 14.  A  complaint  against  a  Synod  for  dissolving  a  Presbytery  is 
sustained  and  the  Presbytery  restored. — 15.  A  complaint  may  be  issued  in 
the  absence  of  the  complainant. — 1G.  The  complaint  must  be  specific. — 
17.  The  record  must  state  that  the  minutes  were  read  on  the  trial. — 18. 
Advice  given  by  ajudicatory  not  a  ground  of  complaint. — 19.  The  discussion 
must  not  involve  the  character  of  a  party  in  his  absence.  Regularity  of  pro 
ceedings  only  to  be  inquired  into. — 20.  Order  for  issuing  a  complaint. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MORAL    QUESTIONS. 
SECTION  1. — ON  MARRIAGE,         .         .         .  237 

1.  Marriage  with  a  brother's  widow  declared  incestuous,  and  the  parties 
debarred  communion  while  living  together.  A  similar  case  referred  to  the 
discretion  of  the  Session. — 2.  With  a  deceased  wife's  sister.  The  offender 


XX11  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

restored,  but  such  marriages  discountenanced.  Proposal  for  a  change  of 
the  Constitution  negatived. — 3.  Marriage  of  the  relicts  of  a  brother  and 
sister  not  incestuous. — 4.  With  a  wife's  brother's  daughter  to  be  censured, 
but  the  parties  not  to  be  debarred  of  Christian  privileges. — 5.  With  a 
deceased  wife's  sister's  daughter,  referred  to  the  lower  judicatories.  With 
a  sister's  daughter  declared  incestuous,  and  to  demand  judicial  action. — 6. 
Marriage  engagements  may  be  dissolved  by  consent.  Hasty  engagements 
condemned. — 7.  Clandestine  marriages  to  be  discountenanced. — S.  What 
is  a  sufficient  publication  of  the  purpose  of  marriage  ? — 9.  On  bigamy  and 
divorce;  a  special  case.  A  bigamist  to  be  excluded  from  communion. 
Wilful  desertion  a  just  cause  of  divorce.  If  just  cause  exist,  and  divorce 
be  refused,  he  may  be  admitted  to  communion,  but  only  with  extreme 
caution. — 10.  Marriage  with  a  woman  divorced  for  other  than  scriptural 
reason  declared  to  be  adultery,  and  the  offender  properly  convicted  of  adul 
tery. — 11.  A  deposition  for  having  obtained  a  divorce  on  other  than  scrip 
tural  grounds  and  marrying  again  sustained. 


SECTION  2. — ON  THE  SABBATH,     .        .        .  248 

A  postmaster  officiating  on  the  Sabbath  is  rightly  excluded  from  the  church. 
The  decision  confirmed. — 2.  Ownership  in  stages  running  on  the  Sabbath 
inconsistent  with  Christian  character. — 3.  Petitions  to  Congress  on  carrying 
the  mails  on  the  Sabbath  — 4.  A  deliverance  on  the  profanation  of  the 
Sabbath.  Ministers  enjoined  to  preach  upon  the  subject,  and  the  Sessions  to 
enforce  discipline. — 5.  Deliverance  of  the  Assembly  of  1836  upon  the  same 
subject. — 6.  On  Sabbath  desecration.  Travelling  on  the  Sabbath  specially 
condemned. — 7.  Church  sessions  enjoined  to  greater  fidelity  in  watchfulness 
and  in  discipline. 


SECTION  3. — ON  INTEMPERANCE,    .        .        .  257 

1.  Action  of  the  Assembly.  Recommends  ministers  to  preach  upon  the  sin 
and  mischiefs  of  intemperate  drinking,  and  Sessions  to  exercise  special 
vigilance. — 2.  Entire  abstinence  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  recommended, 
and  Temperance  societies  approved  of. — 3.  Manufacture  and  traffic  in 
ardent  spirits  condemned. — 4.  Total  abstinence  from  all  that  will  intoxicate 
commended — 5.  Prohibitory  laws  approved  of  and  urged. — 6.  An  over 
ture  on  Temperance.  Relation  of  the  church  to  voluntary  associations. 


SECTION  4. — ON  THE  THEATRE  AND  DANCING,  .        .  262 

1.  Theatrical  exhibitions  and  dancing  condemned. — 2.  Dancing  a  dangerous 


CONTENTS.  XX111 

PAGE 


amusement,  and  to  be  discouraged. — 3.  Promiscuous  dancing  inconsistent 
with  Christian  character,  and  calls  for  faithful  and  judicious  discipline. 


SECTION  5. — ON  GAMBLING,  LOTTERIES,  AND  BETTING,    .  264 

1.  These  sins  to  be  denounced  and  avoided. — 2.  Lotteries  discountenanced, 
and  if  possible  done  away. 


SECTION  6. — ON  DUELLING,       .        .         .  265 

Duelling  denounced,  and  to  be  discountenanced.  Duellist  to  be  excluded 
from  Church  privileges,  and  ministers  recommended  to  refuse  attendance 
on  the  funeral  of  a  fallen  duellist. 


SECTION  7. — ON  SLAVERY,        .        .        .  266 

1.  First  notice  of  the  matter  in  Synod,  1774. — '2.  Action  of  the  Synod,  1787. — 
3.  Overture  on  communion  with  slaveholders,  1795,  1840. — 4.  Delive 
rance  of  the  Assembly  of  1815. — 5.  Overture  on  selling  a  slave,  a  member 
of  the  Church,  and  deliverance  of  the  Assembly  of  1818. — 6.  Indefinitely 
postponed,  1836. — 7.  Referred  to  the  lower  judicatories,  1839,  1843, — 8. 
Declaration  of  the  Assembly  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  1846. — 9.  Action  of 
1849. — 10.  Slavehokling  declared  to  be  an  offence,  1850. — 11.  Information 
asked  for  from  the  Southern  Churches. — 12.  A  committee  to  report  on  the 
constitutional  powers  of  the  Assembly  over  the  subject  of  slaveholding. — 
13.  Report  of  the  Committee. — 14.  Deliverance  of  the  Assembly  of  1857, 
at  Cleveland. — 15.  The  Assembly  refuse  to  instruct  the  Church  Extension 
Committee  not  to  assist  a  church  having  slaveholders  in  its  communion. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DELIVERANCES    ON   DOCTRINES,.        .  296 

Case  of  Samuel  Harker ;  his  views  condemned. — 2.  Testimony  against 
the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation,  and  the  finite  duration  of  hell  torments. 
— 3.  Against  Socinianism. — 4.  Case  of  Rev.  Hezekiah  Balch.  His  creed 
condemned,  and  he  required  to  retract. — 5.  Case  of  Rev.  William  C.  Davis. 
•'The  Gospel  Plan."— 6.  Case  of  Rev.  Thomas  B.  Craighead. — 7.  Case  of 
Rev.  Albert  Barnes. — 8.  Testimony  against  certain  disorders  and  irregulari 
ties. — 9.  Testimony  against  doctrinal  errors. — 10.  An  explication  of  doc 
trine. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

ON   MODES    OF    EVANGELIZATION. 

PAGE 

SECTION  1. — ON  DOMESTIC  MISSIONS,        .         .  319 

1 .  The  earliest  missionary  appointments  temporary.  —  2.  Missionaries  ap 
pointed  to  itinerate  for  some  months. —  3.  Ministers  sent  to  organize 
churches,  ordain  elders,  administer  the  ordinances,  and  instruct  the  people. 
— 4.  Candidates  sent  on  missionary  duty. — 5.  Plan  of  missions  adopted  by 
the  Assembly. — 6.  Operation  of  the  plan. — 7.  Leave  granted  the  Synods, 
in  special  cases,  to  prosecute  their  own  missionary  work. — 8.  The  work  re 
sumed  by  the  Assembly. — 9.  Collections  ordered.  They  may  not  be  pro 
hibited  by  a  church  Session. — 10.  The  Assembly  refuse  to  exempt  a  Pres 
bytery  from  contributing  to  its  funds ;  as,  also,  to  appropriate  their  own  funds. 
— 11.  Instructions  of  the  missionaries.  Form  of  commission. — 12.  Kind  of 
men  required  as  missionaries,  and  their  duties. — 13.  "Standing  Committee 
on  Missions"  appointed;  its  duties.  — 14.  Its  powers  enlarged,  and  its 
name  changed  to  "The  Board  of  Missions." — 15.  Recommendations  to 
raise  funds,  and  to  supply  the  new  States  in  the  South  and  West  with  the 
Gospel. — 16.  Powers  of  the  Board  enlarged.  Powers  defined. — 17.  Pro 
posal  to  unite  with  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society.  Any  change  in 
the  Assembly's  mode  of  conducting  missions  inexpedient. — 18.  The  Board 
has  no  power  to  judge  of  the  orthodoxy  or  morality  of  a  minister  who  is  in 
good  standing  in  his  own  Presbytery. — 19.  Action  of  the  Assemblies  of 
1837,  1838,  1849,  with  regard  to  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society. — 
20.  A  "  Standing  Committee  on  Home  Missions"  appointed. — 21.  History 
of  the  subsequent  relations  to  and  intercourse  with  the  American  Home  Mis 
sionary  Society.  Committee  of  Conference  appointed.  Reports  of  Com 
mittees.  A  commission  raised. 

SECTION  2. — ON  EDUCATION  FOR  THE  MINISTRY,       .  341 

1.  Early  efforts  by  the  Synod  and  Assembly. — 2.  The  Board  of  Education 
established.  Passes  into  the  hands  of  the  "  Old  School.1' — 3.  Other  action. 
American  Education  Society  commended.  Action  leading  to  the  establish 
ment  of  the  Permanent  Committee. 

SECTION  3.— ON  FOREIGN  MISSIONS,        .        .  343 

1.  Earliest  effort  to  evangelize  the  heathen. — 2.  First  missionary  appointment. 
John  Brainerd. — 3.  Minute  on  the  Indian  mission. — 4.  The  Assembly  de- 


CONTENTS.  XXV 

PAGE 

clines  to  form  a  Board  of  Missions  co-operative  with  the  American  Board. — 
5.  The  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  formed.  Amalgamated  with 
the  American  Board.  The  American  Board  commended. 

SECTION  4. — ON  THE  BIBLE,      .        .        .  348 

1.  Gratuitous  distribution.  Aitkin's  edition. — 2.  Collins's  edition.  Ostervald's 
Notes  recommended. — 3.  American  Bible  Society.  The  Bible  to  be  given 
to  every  family,  and  to  the  whole  world. — 4.  The  common  version  com 
mended,  and  the  "new  version"  deprecated. — 5.  Co-operation  with  the  So 
ciety  urged. 


SECTION  5. — ON  RELIGIOUS  BOOKS  AND  TRACTS,       .  353 

1.  Religious  books  and  tracts  distributed  gratuitously. — 2.  Formation  of  Tract 
Societies  commended. — 3.  American  Sunday-School  Union  approved. — 4. 
The  "  American"  Societies  endorsed. 


SECTION  6. — ON  AFRICAN  COLONIZATION,    .        .356 

1.    First  notice;    recommended. — 2.   Collections  on  Fourth  of  July  recom 
mended. — 3.  Recognition  of  Liberian  independence  urged. 


SECTION  7. — ON  SYSTEMATIC  BENEFICENCE,  .        .  359 

1.    The  Plan  endorsed. — 2.   The  American  Systematic  Beneficence  Society 
commended. 


CIIAPTEK  X. 

THE    PERMANENT    COMMITTEES. 

SECTION  1. — PRELIMINARY  ACTION,  .  361 

1.  Reports  of  committees  in  1849  and  1850,  looking  to  raising  up  ministers, 
gathering  and  organizing  churches,  and  building  church  edifices. — 2.  A  full 
report  on  Church  extension.  The  American  Home  Missionary  Society  re 
commended.  Each  Presbytery  to  appoint  a  standing  committee  on  Church 
extension,  and  to  take  the  oversight  of  the  work  within  their  bounds.  The 
Home  Missionary  Society  requested  not  to  require  the  official  sanction  of  any 


XXVI  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

of  its  agents  to  a  Presbyterial  application.  Exploring  missionaries  encour 
aged.  Committee  of  Conference  with  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society. — 3.  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Conference. 

SECTION  2. — THE  CHURCH  EXTENSION  COMMITTEE,     .  367 

] .  The  powers  and  duties  of  the  Assembly  in  regard  to  home  missions.  Com 
mittee  on  Church  Extension  established.  A  majority  to  reside  in  or  near 
Philadelphia.  Powers,  only  such  as  are  conferred  by  the  Assembly.  Func 
tions  of  the  committee  designated.  Intention  to  interfere  with  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society  disavowed.  Number  of  the  committee;  classes 
and  term  of  office;  five  a  quorum.  The  committee  has  power  to  fill  its 
vacancies,  in  the  recess  of  the  Assembly. — 2.  Intent  of  the  appointment  of 
the  committee,  not  to  change  the  co-operative  policy  of  the  Church,  but  to 
supplement  the  agencies  already  existing. — 3.  The  committee  authorized  to 
use  their  discretion  in  case  of  applications  requiring  prompt  action. — 4.  The 
powers  and  duties  of  the  committee  enumerated  and  enlarged.  Authorized 
to  provide  for  churches  which  can  receive  aid  from  no  other  source. — 5.  The 
committee  instructed  to  prosecute  their  work  with  energy.  Feeble  churches 
to  ask  the  least  amount  possible ;  and  all  the  churches  not  aided  by  the 
American  Home  Missionary  Society  to  take  up  collections. — 6.  The  Board 
of  Missions  has  no  authority  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  orthodoxy  or  mo 
rality  of  a  minister  in  good  standing  in  his  own  Presbytery. — 7.  The  com 
mittee  can  make  no  discrimination  between  churches,  having  the  same 
standing  under  the  Constitution. — 8.  Rules  of  the  committee. 

SECTION  3. — COMMITTEE  ON  CHURCH  ERECTION,  .        .  375 

1.  Initiatory  measures. — 2.  The  committee  appointed;  its  number,  classifica 
tion,  and  duties. — 3.  The  Church  Erection  Plan — 4.  The  charter  accepted 
by  the  Assembly.  The  fund  transferred  to  the  trustees.  The  Synods  en 
joined  to  appoint  Committees  of  Church  Extension. — 5.  The  fund  com 
pleted. — G.  The  trustees  authorized  to  require  houses  mortgaged  to  be  kept 
insured. — 7.  Rigid  adherence  to  the  plan  required.  Amendment  of  art. 
xiv,  sec.  3. — 8.  Appropriations  not  to  be  made,  when  there  is  no  organized 
congregation.  The  trustees  are  the  sole  custodians  of  the  fund.  The 
Assembly  refuse  to  alter  the  plan. — 9.  Act  of  incorporation  of  the  Trustees 
of  the  Church  Erection  Fund. — 10.  By-laws  of  the  trustees. — 11.  Rules 
and  regulations  for  the  use  of  applicants  for  aid  from  the  fund. 

SECTION  4. — THE  PUBLICATION  COMMITTEE,  .        .  394 

1.  Preliminary  action. — 2.  The  "  Doctrinal  Tract  Committee"  appointed.  Lo 
cated  at  Philadelphia.  Its  duties  and  powers.  Unanimous  consent  of  the 


CONTENTS.  XXV11 

PAGE 

committee  required  before  any  book  or  tract  is  published.  The  committee 
empowered  to  fill  its  own  vacancies. — 3.  The  committee  enlarged.  Rule 
requiring  unanimous  consent  changed  to  three-fourths. — 4.  Committee 
enlarged  to  fifteen,  nine  of  whom  to  reside  in  Philadelphia  or  its  vicinity. 
Five  shall  constitute  a  quorum.  A  majority  of  the  committee  must  consent 
to  the  publication  of  anything  issued  by  the  committee.  The  committee 
divided  into  three  classes  of  five  each.  Names  of  the  committee. — 5.  Name 
changed  to  Publication  Committee. — 6.  Negotiations  respecting  the  Church 
Psalmist.  The  committee  authorized  to  apply  for  and  to  accept  an  act  of 
incorporation. — 7.  Power  of  the  press  to  be  employed.  The  committee 
empowered  to  issue  such  works  of  an  evangelical  character  as  may  be 
profitable  to  the  Church  at  large.  The  trustees  of  the  house  authorized 
and  directed  to  act  as  Trustees  of  the  Publication  Committee.  The  "  Psalm 
ist"  recommended.  An  appendix  to  be  added. — 8.  Churches  permitted  to 
receive  publications  to  the  amount  of  one-half  their  collections. — 9.  A  work 
ing  capital  of  $25,000  urged.  Power  to  employ  an  agent. — 10.  Presbyterial 
depositories  recommended. 

SECTION  5. — THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  HOUSE,  404 

1.  History  of  the  origin  of  the  plan.  Acceptance  of  the  House  conditionally 
authorized. — 2.  The  trustees. — 3.  The  charter  accepted.  The  Board  of 

;  Trustees  enlarged  ;  its  duties  and  powers. — 4.  The  charter. — 5.  The  trustees. 
— G.  The  legal  title  secured. 

SECTION  6. — THE  EDUCATION  COMMITTEE,    .        .  410 

1.  Formation  of  the  Permanent  Committee.  Located  in  New  York.  Five 
constitute  a  quorum.  Classes  and  term  of  ofhce.  Duties  of  the  committee. 
Duties  of  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods  as  arising  from  the  Plan.  Names  of 
the  committee. — 2.  Organization  and  report  of  the  committee.  Plan  for 
aiding  beneficiaries. — 3.  The  Plan  endorsed  and  commended.  The  charter 
approved  and  accepted.  Candidates  to  retain  their  church  and  Presbyterial 
relations  unchanged  during  their  studies.  The  act  of  incorporation. — 4. 
The  Plan  again  commended.  No  student  ought  to  receive  from  educational 
funds  a  larger  appropriation  than  is  contemplated  by  the  Plan  of  the  Assem 
bly.  The  endowment  of  scholarships  urged. — 5.  The  committee  instructed 
to  continue  their  work,  to  revise  the  Plan  and  submit  it  to  the  Presbyteries. 

SECTION  7. — THE  COMMITTEE  ON  FOREIGN  MISSIONS,  .  424 

1.  Origin  of  the  committee.  The  Permanent  Committee  established. — 2.  The 
committee  enlarged  to  twelve,  and  divided  into  three  classes. — 3.  Duties  of 
the  committee. — 4.  Formation  of  foreign  Presbyteries  encouraged.  The 


XXV111  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Synod  of  ISew  York  and  New  Jersey  empowered  to  form  and  receive  such 
Presbyteries. — 5.  Report  of  1860.     The  Jubilee  year. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    OTHER    CHURCHES,  434 

1.  To  correspond  with  foreign  churches  belongs  to  the  Assembly. — 2.  The 
Assembly  grants  permission  to  Presbyteries  and  Synods  to  correspond  with 
local  bodies. — 3.  Proposals  to  correspond  with  the  New  England  churches. 
— 4.  Plan  of  correspondence  with  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut. 
— 5.  The  right  to  vote  asked  by  the  Assembly  and  conceded. — 6.  Confer 
ence  on  complaint  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  in  reference  to  the 
licensure  of  John  Chambers. — 7.  For  either  body  to  receive  a  candidate, 
licentiate,  or  minister  from  the  other,  without  regular  testimonials  and  dis 
mission,  is  irregular. — 8.  Correspondence  with  the  General  Convention  of 
Vermont.  Regulations  same  as  with  the  General  Association  of  Connecti 
cut. — 9.  With  the  General  Association  of  New  Hampshire. — 10.  With  the 
General  Association  of  Massachusetts. — 11.  With  the  General  Conference 
of  Maine. — 12.  With  the  Evangelical  Consociation  of  Rhode  Island.  Corre 
spondence  discontinued  by  the  Consociation. — 13.  The  Assembly  requests 
that  the  right  to  vote  be  given  up. — 14.  Replies.  New  Hampshire  agrees. 
Vermont  refers  the  matter  to  a  committee.  Massachusetts  declines. — 15. 
The  rule  as  to  receiving  candidates,  licentiates,  and  ministers  urged  upon 
Associations  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont. — 16.  Reply 
of  the  Association  of  Massachusetts.  The  right  to  vote  given  up.  The  rule 
referred  to  the  District  Associations. — 17.  Minute  on  correspondence  with 
the  New  England  churches. — 18.  Correspondence  with  the  German  Re 
formed  Synod  of  North  America. — 19.  With  the  General  Synod  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. — 20.  With  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church. — 21.  With  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  Convention  of  Wis 
consin. — 22.  With  the  General  Association  of  New  York.  Further  pro 
ceedings.  The  correspondence  continued.  The  Association  requested  to 
couch  its  communications  in  courteous  language.  The  right  to  review  our 
proceedings,  rebuke  or  reprove  denied. — 23.  The  terms  of  correspondence 
defined. — 24.  With  the  union  of  Evangelical  Churches  of  France. — 25.  With 
the  "Reformed  Presbyterian  Church, "and  with  the  "  Associate  Reformed.'' 
Terms  of  correspondence. — 26.  Compensation  of  delegates  to  corresponding 
bodies. 


CONTENTS.  XXIX 

CHAPTER  XII. 

PLAN    OF    UNION    AND    THE    DIVISION. 

PAGE 

SECTION  1. — THE  PLAN  OF  UNION,         .         .  453 

1.  Original  proposition  by  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut. — 2.  Plan 
digested  and  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly. — 3.  Resolutions  declaring 
any  change  inexpedient  and  undesirable. — 4.  Resolutions  to  request  the 
Association  to  consent  to  annul  the  Plan  of  Union. — 5.  The  Plan  declared 
to  be  abrogated. 

SECTION  2. — THE  EXSCINDING  ACTS  or  1837,         .  456 

1.  The  Plan  of  Union  declared  to  be  abrogated,  on  the  ground  of  its  uncon- 
stitutionality. — 2.  Protest  against  the  abrogation. — 3.  Answer  to  the  pro 
test. — 4.  Resolutions  to  cite  to  the  bar  of  the  Assembly  such  inferior  judi 
catures  as  are  charged  by  common  fame  with  irregularities. — 5.  Protest 
against  this  resolution. — 6.  Answer  to  the  protest. — 7.  Proposal  to  inquire 
into  the  expediency  of  a  voluntary  division  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. — 
8.  Committee  of  ten  appointed. — 9.  Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Ma 
jority. — 10.  Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Minority. — 11.  The  Synod  of 
the  Western  Reserve  declared  to  be  no  longer  part  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States. — 12.  The  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva,  and 
Genesee  declared  to  be  out  of  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church. — 

13.  Protest  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve. — 

14.  Answer  to  the  protest. — 15.  Protest  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Synods 
of  Utica,  Geneva,  and  Genesee. — 10.  Answer  to  the  protest. — 1 7.  Dissolution 
of  the  Third  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. — 18.  Protest  against  the  dissolu 
tion. — 19.  Answer  to  the  protest. 

SECTION  3. — PERTAINING  TO  THE  DIVISION,    .        .495 

1.  Pastoral  Letter  to  the  churches  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly, 
1837.— 2.  Circular  Letter  to  the  Churches  of  Christ. — 3.  Assembly  of  1838. 
Organization  of  the  Assembly. — 4.  Demands  for  the  records,  books,  papers, 
&c.,  of  the  General  Assembly.  The  demand  refused. — 5.  Trustees  elected. 
— G.  Committee  of  twelve  appointed  with  power  to  advise  and  direct. — 7. 
The  Assembly  willing  to  agree  to  any  reasonable  measures  for  the  amicable 
adjustment  of  difficulties. — 8.  Pastoral  letter  to  the  churches  under  the  care 
of  the  General  Assembly,  1838. — 9.  Report  of  the  committee  of  twelve. 


XXX  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Articles  of  agreement  proposed.  Result  of  the  trial  at  law.  Charge  of  the 
court. — 10.  A  declaration  of  the  General  Assembly  setting  forth  its  present 
position  and  its  causes. — 11.  Withdrawal  of  the  suits  at  law. — 12.  The  roll 
of  the  Assembly  rectified. — 13.  Proposal  to  unite  in  communion  refused. — 
14.  Committee  of  Correspondence  appointed.  The  result. — 15.  Detail  of 
efforts  for  a  harmonious  understanding. 


CHAPTER  XHL 

MISCELLANEOUS. 
SECTION  1. — SECESSION  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  CHURCHES,    .  563 

1.  The  protest  against  the  action  at  Cleveland,  and  the  answer. — 2.  With 
drawal  of  the  Synods  of  Missouri,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  West  Ten 
nessee,  and  Mississippi.  Claims  of  the  "  United  Synod." — 3.  Report  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  upon  these  claims. — 4.  Adjustment  of 
the  roll.  The  Synods  of  Mississippi,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  West  Ten 
nessee  stricken  from  the  roll. — 5.  The  Synod  of  Virginia  stricken  from 
the  roll,  and  the  bounds  of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  enlarged  so  as  to  in 
clude  the  Presbytery  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

SECTION  2. — BIBLE  CLASSES  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOLS,     .  568 

1.  The  forming  of  Bible  classes  recommended.  Plan  of  instruction.  Not  to 
supersede  the  Catechism. — 2.  Sabbath-schools  approved.  The  instruction  of 
the  young.  American  Sunday-School  Union  commended. — 3.  Catechetical 
instruction  urged  on  parents,  pastors,  and  teachers. 

SECTION  3. — ON  THE  SUPPORT  OF  THE  MINISTRY,       .  573 

1.  Early  action.  Glebe  and  parsonage  recommended. — 2.  Adequate  provisions 
urged.  Presbyteries  to  inquire  into  the  fulfilment  of  contracts. — 3.  Congre 
gational  libraries  for  the  use  of  ministers. — 4.  Liberality  in  the  support  of 
the  ministry  urged. 

SECTION  4. — ON  FASTING  AND  PRAYER,       .        .  575 

1.  Prayer  for  the  General  Assembly. — 2.  Special  seasons  for  prayer  recom 
mended. — 3.  Revivals  consequent  on  special  prayer. — 4.  The  monthly  con 
cert.  Time  of  observing  it. — 5.  Appointment  of  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  First  Monday  in  January  ;  standing  custom. 
Last  Thursday  in  February. — 6.  Prayer  for  magistrates. 


CONTENTS.  XXXI 


PAGE 


SECTION  5 — ON  PSALMODY,        :        .        .580 

1  Narrative  of  early  action.  A  new  collection  to  be  prepared  and  a  committee 
appointed.  The  book  approved. — 2.  Movement,  for  a  new  Book  of  Psalmody. 
Referred  to  the  committee  ad  interim. — 3.  The  "  Church  Psalmist"  recom 
mended. — 4.  Purchased  for  the  Assembly. — 5.  An  appendix  added. — G. 
Book  of  Tunes  prepared. 


SECTION  6. — AMENDMENTS  TO  THE  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT, 
BOOK  OF  DISCIPLINE,  AND  DIRECTORY  FOR  WORSHIP,  ADOP 
TED  OR  PROPOSED,  ........  585 

1.  Amended  in  1821,  and  adopted  substantially  as  at  present. — 2.  Proposal  to 
amend  Form  of  Government,  chap,  x,  refused. — 3.  Amendment  of  chap, 
xiii,  sec.  2,  Form  of  Government  refused. — 4.  Proposal  to  amend  Form 
of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  4.  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sec.  1,  art. 
iv.  Chap,  vii,  sees.  2,  3,  4,  on  appeals,  complaints,  and  references.  Form 
of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  7,  and  chap,  xiv,  sec.  6. — 5.  Answer  of  the 
Presbyteries.  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  7,  altered.  Five  of  the 
six  proposed  amendments  agreed  to.  but  the  sixth  being  rejected  the  As 
sembly  refuse  to  make  the  alterations. — 6.  Proposal  to  alter  the  ratio  of  re 
presentation  in  the  Assembly ;  also  to  make  it  Synodical  and  not  Presbyte- 
rial. — 7.  Proposal  of  an  overture  in  reference  to  calling  special  meetings  of 
Synod  not  adopted. — 8.  The  ratio  of  representation  altered.  Form  of  Go 
vernment,  chap,  xii,  sec.  2. — 9.  Proposal  to  limit  the  appellate  jurisdiction 
of  the  Assembly  to  charges  against  a  minister,  and  to  processes  originating 
in  Synod. — 10.  Proposal  to  make  the  Synods  in  all  cases  the  courts  of  final 
jurisdiction,  to  hold  the  Assembly  triennially,  and  to  authorize  the  calling 
of  the  Assembly,  pro  re  nata — 11.  The  proposed  amendments  affirmed. 
Alterations  of  the  Constitution  made  accordingly.  Form  of  Government, 
chap,  xii,  sees.  2,  7,  and  8. — 12.  Proposal  to  return  to  annual  Assemblies, 
Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  7,  and  to  restore  appellate  jurisdiction 
to  the  Assembly. — 13.  The  proposal  more  clearly  stated.  Revision  of  the 
standards  referred  to  a  committee. — 14.  The  overtures,  1  and  2,  respecting 
annual  assemblies,  chap,  xi,  sec.  7,  arid  chap,  xii,  sec.  7,  Form  of  Govern 
ment,  adopted.  Overtures  3,  4,  and  5,  pertaining  to  appeals  in  the  case  of 
ministers,  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  paragraph  2,  sec.  3,  paragraph  2, 
and  sec.  4,  paragraph  4,  not  adopted. — 15.  Report  on  the  changes  of  the 
Constitution.  Proposal  to  restore  it  as  in  1840  or  before  the  division.  Over 
tures  sent  down  on  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  xii,  sec.  4,  chap,  vii,  sec.  2,  chap, 
vii,  sec.  3,  sub  sec.  2,  chap,  vii,  sec.  4,  sub  sec.  1.  Form  of  Government, 
chap,  xii,  a  new  section  after  7,  and  chap,  xii,  sec.  2. — 16.  These  overtures 
rejected,  and  the  Book  restored  as  before  the  division. 


XXX11  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


SECTION  7. — RULES  FOR  JUDICATORIES,     .        .     602 


APPENDIX. 

OPINION  OF  JUDGE  GIBSON  IN  BANG,  .....  607 

YORK  CHURCH  CASE,     ........  613 

LANE  SEMINARY  CASE, 618 


UNI7SESPJ 


DIGEST. 


CHAPTER  I. 

OF    THE    CHURCH. 
SECTION  1. — STANDARDS  OF  THE  CHUHCII. 

1.  Overture  in  reference  to  subscribing  the  Confession  of  Faith. — 2.  Confession  of 
Faith.  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  adopted. — 
3.  The  "Directory"  recommended. — 4.  Intrants  or  Candidates  must  adopt  the 
standards. — 5.  The  "Adopting  Act"  to  be  copied  in  the  Presbytery  books. — 
6.  An  act  explanatory  of  the  Adopting  Act. — 7.  Plan  of  Union  of  1758. — 8.  The 
Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
amended  and  adopted. — 9.  Proof  texts  added  by  order  of  the  Assembly. — 
10.  The  marginal  notes  have  no  constitutional  authority. — 11.  Use  and  obliga 
tion  of  the  standards. — 12.  Subscription  to  them  in  every  case  required. — 
13.  The  Catechisms  are  an  integral  part  of  the  Constitution. — 14.  The  term 
"Standing  Rule"  in  the  Constitution  defined.  The  Assembly  may  enact  stand 
ing  rules. 

ADOPTION  OF  THE  WESTMINSTER  STANDARDS. 
1. —  Overture  laid  over  a  year. 

11  There  being  an  overture  presented  to  the  Synod  in  writing  having 
reference  to  the  subscribing  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  &c.,  the  Synod, 
judging  this  to  be  a  very  important  affair,  unanimously  concluded  to 
defer  the  consideration  of  it  till  the  next  Synod,  \vithal  recommending 
it  to  the  members  of  each  Presbytery  present  to  give  timeous  notice 
thereof  to  the  absent  members." — Minutes,  1728,  p.  91. 

2 


18  I. — OF   THE   CIIURCII. 

2.    The  Confession  of  Faith,  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly  adopted. 

tl  The  committee  brought  in  an  overture  upon  the  affair  of  the  Con 
fession,  which,  after  long  debating  upon  it,  was  agreed  upon,  in  hcec 
verla  : 

"Although  the  Synod  do  not  claim  or  pretend  to  any  authority  of 
imposing  our  faith  upon  other  men's  consciences,  but  do  profess  our  just 
dissatisfaction  with,  and  abhorrence  of  such  impositions,  and  do  utterly 
disclaim  all  legislative  power  and  authority  in  the  Church,  being  willing 
to  receive  one  another  as  Christ  has  received  us  to  the  glory  of  God,  and 
admit  to  fellowship  in  sacred  ordinances,  all  such  as  we  have  grounds  to 
believe  Christ  will  at  last  admit  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  yet  we  are 
undoubtedly  obliged  to  take  care  that  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
saints  be  kept  pure  and  uncorrupt  among  us,  and  so  handed  down  to  our 
posterity.  And  do  therefore  agree  that  all  the  ministers  of  this  Synod, 
or  that  shall  hereafter  be  admitted  into  this  Synod,  shall  declare  their 
agreement  in,  and  approbation  of,  the  Confession  of  Faith,  with  the 
Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  West 
minster,  as  being  in  all  the  essential  and  necessary  articles,  good  forms 
of  sound  words  and  systems  of  Christian  doctrine,  and  do  also  adopt  the 
said  Confession  and  Catechisms  as  the  confession  of  our  faith.  And  we 
do  also  agree,  that  all  the  Presbyteries  within  our  bounds  shall  always 
take  care  not  to  admit  any  candidate  of  the  ministry  into  the  exercise  of 
the  sacred  function,  but  what  declares  his  agreement  in  opinion  with  all 
the  essential  and  necessary  articles  of  said  Confession,  either  by  sub 
scribing  the  said  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms,  or  by  a  verbal 
declaration  of  their  assent  thereto,  as  such  minister  or  candidate  shall 
think  best.  And  in  case  any  minister  of  this  Synod,  or  any  candidate 
for  the  ministry,  shall  have  any  scruple  with  respect  to  any  article  or 
articles  of  said  Confession  or  Catechisms,  he  shall  at  the  time  of  his 
making  said  declaration  declare  his  sentiments  to  the  Presbytery  or 
Synod,  who  shall,  notwithstanding,  admit  him  to  the  exercise  of  the 
ministry  within  our  bounds,  and  to  ministerial  communion,  if  the  Synod 
or  Presbytery  shall  judge  his  scruple  or  mistake  to  be  only  about  articles 
not  essential  and  necessary  in  doctrine,  worship,  or  government.  But  if 
the  Synod  or  Presbytery  shall  judge  such  ministers  or  candidates  erro 
neous  in  essential  and  necessary  articles  of  faith,  the  Synod  or  Presby 
tery  shall  declare  them  uncapable  of  communion  with  them.  And  the 


I. — OF   THE    CHURCH.  19 

Synod  do  solemnly  agree,  that  none  of  us  will  traduce  or  use  any  oppro 
brious  terms  of  those  that  differ  from  us  in  these  extra-essential  and  not 
necessary  points  of  doctrine,  but  treat  them  with  the  same  friendship, 
kindness,  and  brotherly  love,  as  if  they  had  not  differed  from  us  in  such 
sentiments." 

[In  the  afternoon.] 

All  the  ministers  of  this  Synod  now  present,  except  one,  that  declared 
himself  not  prepared,  viz.  :  Masters  Jedediah  Andrews,  Thomas  Craig- 
head,  John  Thomson,  James  Anderson,  John  Pierson,  Samuel  Gelston, 
Joseph  Houston,  Gilbert  Tennent,  Adam  Boyd,  Jonathan  Dickinson, 
John  Bradner,  Alexander  Hutchinson,  Thomas  Evans,  Hugh  Stevenson, 
William  Tennent,  Hugh  Conn,  George  Gillespie,  and  John  Willson,  after 
proposing  all  the  scruples  that  any  of  them  had  to  make  against  any 
articles  and  expressions  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westminster,  have 
unanimously  agreed  in  the  solution  of  those  scruples,  and  in  declaring 
the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms  to  be  the  confession  of  their  faith, 
excepting  only  some  clauses  in  the  twentieth  and  twenty-third  chapters, 
concerning  which  clauses  the  Synod  do  unanimously  declare,  that  they 
do  not  receive  those  articles  in  any  such  sense  as  to  suppose  the  civil 
magistrate  hath  a  controlling  power  over  Synods  with  respect  to  the  ex 
ercise  of  their  ministerial  authority;  or  power  to  persecute  any  for  their 
religion,  or  in  any  sense  contrary  to  the  Protestant  succession  to  the 
throne  of  Great  Britain. 

The  Synod  observing  that  unanimity,  peace,  and  unity,  which  ap 
peared  in  all  their  consultations  and  determinations  relating  to  the  affair 
of  the  Confession,  did  unanimously  agree  in  giving  thanks  to  God  in 
solemn  prayer  and  praises. — Minutes,  1729,  p.  94. 

3.    The  "Directory"  recommended. 

"A  motion  being  made  to  know  the  Synod's  judgment  about  the 
Directory,  they  gave  their  sense  of  that  matter  in  the  following  words, 
viz. :  The  Synod  do  unanimously  acknowledge  and  declare,  that  they 
judge  the  Directory  for  worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  that 
Church,  commonly  annexed  to  the  Westminster  Confession,  to  be  agreea 
ble  in  substance  to  the  word  of  God,  and  founded  thereupon ;  and  there 
fore  do  earnestly  recommend  the  same  to  all  their  members,  to  be  by 
them  observed  as  near  as  circumstances  will  allow,  and  Christian  pru 
dence  direct." — Minutes,  1729,  p.  95. 


20  I. — OF   THE   CHURCH. 

4.  Intrants  or  Candidates  to  adopt  the  Confession  and  Catechisms  in 
the  same  manner  and  as  f idly  as  those  then  present . 

a.  "Whereas,  some  persons  have  been  dissatisfied  at  the  manner  of 
wording  our  last  year's  agreement  about  the  Confession,  &c.,  supposing 
some  expressions  not  sufficiently  obligatory  upon  intrants  : 

"Overtured,  That  the  Synod  do  now  declare,  that  they  understand 
these  clauses,  that  respect  the  admission  of  intrants  or  candidates,  in 
such  a  sense  as  to  oblige  them  to  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession  and 
Catechisms  at  their  admission,  in  the  same  manner  and  as  fully  as 
the  members  of  the  Synod  did  that  were  then  present,  which  overture 
was  unanimously  agreed  to  by  the  Synod." — Minutes,  1730,  p.  98. 

b.  (i  Ordered,  That  the  Synod  make  a  particular  inquiry  during  the 
time  of  their  meeting  every  year,  whether  such  ministers  as  have  been 
received  as  members  since  the  foregoing  meeting  of  the   Synod  have 
adopted,  or  have  been  required  by  the  Synod,  or  by  the  respective  Pres 
byteries,  to  adopt  the  Westminster  Confession  and  Catechisms  with  the 
Directory,  according  to  the  acts  of  the  Synod  made  some  years  since  for 
that  purpose,  and  that  also  the  report  made  to  the  Synod,  in  answer  to 
said  inquiry,  be  recorded  in  our  minutes." — Minutes,  1734,  p.  109. 

5.    To  be  inscribed  on  the  Book  of  each  Presbytery . 

"Ordered,  That  each  Presbytery  have  the  whole  Adopting  Act  in 
serted  in  their  Presbytery  book." — Minutes,  1735,  p.  115. 

6.  An  Act  explanatory  of  the  Adopting  Act. 

"An  overture  of  the  committee  upon  the  supplication  of  the  people  of 
Paxton  and  Derry  was  brought  in,  and  is  as  followeth :  That  the  Synod 
do  declare,  that  inasmuch  as  we  understand  that  many  persons  of  our 
persuasion,  both  more  lately  and  formerly,  have  been  offended  with  some 
expressions  or  distinctions  in  the  first  or  preliminary  act  of  our  Synod, 
contained  in  the  printed  paper,  relating  to  our  receiving  or  adopting  the 
Westminster  Confession  and  Catechisms,  &c. ;  that,  in  order  to  remove 
said  offence,  and  all  jealousies  that  have  arisen  or  may  arise  in  any  of 
our  people's  minds  on  occasion  of  said  distinctions  and  expressions,  the 
Synod  doth  declare,  that  the  Synod  have  adopted  and  still  do  adhere  to 
the  Westminster  Confession,  Catechisms,  and  Directory,  without  the 
least  variation  or  alteration,  and  without  any  regard  to  said  distinctions. 


'*£ 


I. — OF   THE   CHURCH. 

And  we  do  further  declare,  that  this  was  our  meaning  and  true  ?nte.nt 
in  our  first  adopting  of  said  Confession,  as  may  particularly  appear  by 
our  Adopting  Act,  which  is  as  followeth  :  'All  the  ministers  of  the 
Synod  now  present  (which  were  eighteen  in  number,  except  one  that 
declared  himself  not  prepared),  after  proposing  all  the  scruples  any  of 
them  had  to  make  against  any  articles  and  expressions  in  the  Confession 
of  Faith  and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines 
at  Westminster,  have  unanimously  agreed  in  the  solution  of  these 
scruples,  and  in  declaring  the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms  to  be  the 
confession  of  their  faith,  except  only  some  clauses  in  the  twentieth  and 
twenty-third  chapters ;  concerning  which  clauses  the  Synod  do  unani 
mously  declare,  that  they  do  not  receive  these  articles  in  any  such  sense 
as  to  suppose  the  civil  magistrate  hath  a  controlling  power  over  Synods 
with  respect  to  the  exercise  of  their  ministerial  authority,  or  power  to 
persecute  any  for  their  religion,  or  in  any  sense  contrary  to  the  Protest 
ant  succession  to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain/ 

"And  we  hope  and  desire,  that  this,  our  Synodical  declaration  and 
explication,  may  satisfy  all  our  people  as  to  our  firm  attachment  to  our 
good  old  received  doctrines  contained  in  said  Confession,  without  the 
least  variation  or  alteration,  and  that  they  will  lay  aside  their  jealousies 
that  have  been  entertained  through  occasion  of  the  above  hinted  expres 
sions  and  declarations  as  groundless.  This  overture  approved  nemine 
contradicente." — Minutes,  1736,  p.  126. 

7.    Upon  the  reunion  of  the  Synods  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
May  29,  1758,  the  following  Plan  of  Union  was  agreed  upon,  viz. : 

"  The  Synods  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  taking  into  serious  con 
sideration  the  present  divided  state  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this 
land,  and  being  deeply  sensible  that  the  division  of  the  Church  tends  to 
weaken  its  interests,  to  dishonor  religion,  and  consequently  its  glorious 
Author;  to  render  government  and  discipline  ineffectual,  and  finally  to 
dissolve  its  very  frame ;  and  being  desirous  to  pursue  such  measures  as 
may  most  tend  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  establishment  and  edification 
of  his  people,  do  judge  it  to  be  our  indispensable  duty  to  study  the 
things  that  make  for  peace,  and  to  endeavor  the  healing  of  that  breach 
which  has  for  some  time  subsisted  amongst  us,  that  so  its  hurtful  con 
sequences  may  not  extend  to  posterity;  that  all  occasion  of  reproach 
upon  our  society  may  be  removed,  and  that  we  may  carry  on  the  great 
designs  of  religion  to  better  advantage  than  we  can  do  in  a  divided 


22  I. OF    THE    CHURCH. 

state ;  and  since  both  Synods  continue  to  profess  the  same  principles  of 
faith,  and  adhere  to  the  same  form  of  worship,  government,  and  disci 
pline,  there  is  the  greater  reason  to  endeavor  the  compromising  those 
differences  which  were  agitated  many  years,  ago  with  too  great  warmth 
and  animosity,  and  unite  in  one  body. 

aFor  which  end,  and  that  no  jealousies  or  grounds  of  alienation  may 
remain,  and  also  to  prevent  future  breaches  of  like  nature,  we  agree  to 
unite  and  do  unite  in  one  body,  under  the  name  of  the  Synod  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  on  the  following  plan  : 

"  I.  Both  Synods  having  always  approved  and  received  the  West 
minster  Confession  of  Faith  and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  as  an 
orthodox  and  excellent  system  of  Christian  doctrine,  founded  on  the 
word  of  God,  we  do  still  receive  the  same  as  the  confession  of  our  faith, 
and  also  adhere  to  the  plan  of  worship,  government,  and  discipline,  con 
tained  in  the  Westminster  Directory,  strictly  enjoining  it  on  all  our 
members  and  probationers  for  the  ministry  that  they  preach  and  teach 
according  to  the  form  of  sound  words  in  said  Confession  and  Catechisms, 
and  avoid  and  oppose  all  errors  contrary  thereto. 

"II.  That  when  any  matter  is  determined  by  a  major  vote,  every 
member  shall  either  actively  concur  with  or  passively  submit  to  such 
determination;  or,  if  his  conscience  permit  him  to  do  neither,  he  shall, 
after  sufficient  liberty  modestly  to  reason  and  remonstrate,  peaceably 
withdraw  from  our  communion,  without  attempting  to  make  any  schism  : 
Provided  always,  that  this  shall  be  understood  to  extend  only  to  such 
determinations  as  the  body  shall  judge  indispensable  in  doctrine  or 
Presbyterian  government. 

"  III.  That  any  member  or  members,  for  the  exoneration  of  his  or 
their  conscience  before  God,  have  a  right  to  protest  against  any  act  or 
procedure  of  our  highest  judicature,  because  there  is  no  further  appeal 
to  another  for  redress,  and  to  require  that  such  protestation  be  recorded 
in  their  minutes.  And  as  such  a  protest  is  a  solemn  appeal  from  the 
bar  of  said  judicature,  no  member  is  liable  to  prosecution  on  the  account 
of  his  protesting  :  Provided  always,  that  it  shall  be  deemed  irregular  and 
unlawful  to  enter  a  protestation  against  any  member  or  members,  or  to 
protest  facts  or  accusations  instead  of  proving  them,  unless  a  fair  trial  be 
refused,  even  by  the  highest  judicature.  And  it  is  agreed,  that  pro 
testations  are  only  to  be  entered  against  the  public  acts,  judgments,  or 
determinations  of  the  judicature  with  which  the  protestor's  conscience  is 
offended. 


I. — OF   THE   CIIURCEI.  23 

"  IV.  As  the  protestation  entered  in  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  Ann. 
Pom.  1741,  has  been  apprehended  to  have  been  approved  and  received 
by  an  act  of  said  Synod,  and  on  that  account  was  judged  a  sufficient 
obstacle  to  an  union,  the  said  Synod  declare,  that  they  never  judicially 
adopted  the  said  protestation,  nor  do  account  it  a  Synodical  act,  but 
that  it  is  to  be  considered  as  the  act  of  those  only  who  subscribed  it; 
and  therefore  cannot  in  its  nature  be  a  valid  objection  to  the  union  of 
the  two  Synods,  especially  considering  that  a  very  great  majority  of 
both  Synods  have  become  members  since  the  said  protestation  was 
entered. 

"  V.  That  it  shall  be  esteemed  and  treated  as  a  censurable  evil,  to 
accuse  any  member  of  heterodoxy,  insufficiency,  or  immorality,  in  a  ca 
lumniating  manner,  or  otherwise  than  by  private  brotherly  admonition,  or 
by  a  regular  process  according  to  our  known  rules  of  judicial  trial  in 
cases  of  scandal ;  and  it  shall  be  considered  in  the  same  view,  if  any 
Presbytery  appoint  supplies  within  the  bounds  of  another  Presbytery 
without  their  concurrence ;  or  if  any  member  officiate  in  another's  con 
gregation,  without  asking  and  obtaining  his  consent,  or  the  Session's  in 
case  the  minister  be  absent;  yet  it  shall  be  esteemed  unbrotherly  for 
any  one,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  to  refuse  his  consent  to  a  regular 
member  when  it  is  requested. 

"  VI.  That  no  Presbytery  shall  license  or  ordain  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry  any  candidate,  until  he  give  them  competent  satisfaction  as  to 
his  learning,  and  experimental  acquaintance  with  religion,  and  skill  in 
divinity  and  cases  of  conscience,  and  declare  his  acceptance  of  the  West 
minster  Confession  and  Catechisms  as  the  confession  of  his  faith,  and 
promise  subjection  to  the  Presbyterian  plan  of  government  in  the  West 
minster  Directory. 

"VII.  The  Synods  declare  it  is  their  earnest  desire  that  a  complete 
union  may  be  obtained  as  soon  as  possible,  and  agree  that  the  united 
Synod  shall  model  ,the  several  Presbyteries  in  such  manner  as  shall 
appear  to  them  most  expedient.  Provided  nevertheless,  that  Presby 
teries  where  an  alteration  does  not  appear  to  be  for  edification,  continue 
in  their  present  form.  As  to  divided  congregations,  it  is  agreed  that 
such  as  have  settled  ministers  on  both  sides  be  allowed  to  continue  as 
they  are ;  that  where  those  of  one  side  have  a  settled  minister,  the  other 
being  vacant,  may  join  with  the  settled  minister,  if  a  majority  choose  so 
to  do ;  that  when  both  sides  are  vacant,  they  shall  be  at  liberty  to  unite 
together. 


24  I. — OF   THE   CHURCH. 

fi  VIII.  As  the  late  religious  appearances  occasioned  much  specula 
tion  and  debate,  the  members  of  the  New  York  Synod,  in  order  to  pre 
vent  any  misapprehensions,  declare  their  adherence  to  their  former 
sentiments  in  favor  of  them,  that  a  blessed  work  of  God's  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  conversion  of  numbers  was  then  carried  on ;  and  for  the  satisfac 
tion  of  all  concerned,  this  united  Synod  agree  in  declaring,  that,  as  all 
mankind  are  naturally  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  an  entire  change  of 
heart  and  life  is  necessary  to  make  them  meet  for  the  service  and  enjoy 
ment  of  God ;  that  such  a  change  can  be  only  effected  by  the  powerful 
operations  of  the  divine  Spirit;  that  when  sinners  are  made  sensible  of 
their  lost  condition  and  absolute  inability  to  recover  themselves,  are 
enlightened  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  convinced  of  his  ability  and 
willingness  to  save,  and  upon  Gospel  encouragements  do  choose  him  for 
their  Saviour,  and,  renouncing  their  own  righteousness  in  point  of 
merit,  depend  upon  his  imputed  righteousness  for  their  justification 
before  God,  and  on  his  wisdom  and  strength  for  guidance  and  support; 
when,  upon  these  apprehensions  and  exercises,  their  souls  are  comforted, 
notwithstanding  all  their  past  guilt,  and  rejoice  in  God  through  Jesus 
Christ;  when  they  hate  and  bewail  their  sins  of  heart  and  life,  delight 
in  the  laws  of  God  without  exception,  reverently  and  diligently  attend 
his  ordinances,  become  humble  and  self-denied,  and  make  it  the  business 
of  their  lives  to  please  and  glorify  God,  and  to  do  good  to  their  fellow 
men  :  this  is  to  be  acknowledged  as  a  gracious  work  of  God,  even  though 
it  should  be  attended  with  unusual  bodily  commotions,  or  some  more 
exceptionable  circumstances,  by  means  of  infirmity,  temptations,  or  re 
maining  corruptions ;  and  wherever  religious  appearances  are  attended 
with  the  good  effects  above  mentioned,  we  desire  to  rejoice  in  and  thank 
God  for  them. 

"But,  on  the  other  hand,  when  persons  seeming  to  be  under  a  reli 
gious  concern,  imagine  that  they  have  visions  of  the  human  nature  of 
Jesus  Christ,  or  hear  voices,  or  see  external  lights,  or  have  fainting  and 
convulsion-like  fits,  and  on  the  account  of  these  judge  themselves  to  be 
truly  converted,  though  they  have  not  the  Scriptural  characters  of  a  work 
of  God  above  described,  we  believe  such  persons  are  under  a  dangerous 
delusion ;  and  we  testify  our  utter  disapprobation  of  such  a  delusion, 
wherever  it  attends  any  religious  appearances,  in  any  Church  or  time. 

"  Now  as  both  Synods  are  agreed  in  their  sentiments  concerning  the 
nature  of  a  work  of  grace,  and  declare  their  desire  and  purpose  to  pro 
mote  it,  different  judgments  respecting  particular  matters  of  fact  ought 


I. — OF   THE    CHURCH.  25 

not  to  prevent  their  union ;  especially  as  many  of  the  present  members 
have  entered  into  the  ministry  since  the  time  of  the  aforesaid  religious 
appearances. 

"  Upon  the  whole,  as  the  design  of  our  union  is  the  advancement  of  the 
Mediator's  kingdom,  and  as  the  wise  and  faithful  discharge  of  the  minis 
terial  function  is  the  principal  appointed  mean  for  that  glorious  end,  we 
judge  that  this  is  a  proper  occasion  to  manifest  our  sincere  intention 
unitedly  to  exert  ourselves  to  fulfil  the  ministry  we  have  received  of  the 
Lord  Jesus.  Accordingly,  we  unanimously  declare  our  serious  and  fixed 
resolution,  by  divine  aid,  to  take  heed  to  ourselves  that  our  hearts  be  up 
right,  our  discourse  edifying,  and  our  lives  exemplary  for  purity  and  godli 
ness;  to  take  heed  to  our  doctrine,  that  it  be  not  only  orthodox,  but 
evangelical  and  spiritual,  tending  to  awaken  the  secure  to  a  suitable 
concern  for  their  salvation,  and  to  instruct  and  encourage  sincere  Chris 
tians,  thus  commending  ourselves  to  every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight 
of  God  ;  to  cultivate  peace  and  harmony  among  ourselves,  and  strengthen 
each  other's  hands  in  promoting  the  knowledge  of  divine  truth,  and 
diffusing  the  savor  of  piety  among  our  people. 

"  Finally,  we  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all  under  our  care,  that  in 
stead  of  indulging  a  contentious  disposition,  they  would  love  each  other 
with  a- pure  heart  fervently,  as  brethren  who  profess  subjection  to  the 
same  Lord,  adhere  to  the  same  faith,  worship,  and  government,  and  en 
tertain  the  same  hope  of  glory.  And  we  desire  that  they  would  improve 
the  present  union  for  their  mutual  edification,  combine  to  strengthen  the 
common  interests  of  religion,  and  go  hand  in  hand  in  the  path  of  life ; 
which  we  pray  the  God  of  all  grace  would  please  to  effect,  for  Christ's 
sake.  Amen. 

"  The  Synod  agree,  that  all  former  differences  and  disputes  are  laid 
aside  and  buried;  and  that  no  future  inquiry  or  vote  shall  be  proposed 
in  this  Synod  concerning  these  things;  but  if  any  member  seek  a  Sy- 
nodical  inquiry  or  declaration  about  any  of  the  matters  of  our  past  dif 
ferences,  it  skall  be  deemed  a  censurable  breach  of  this  agreement,  and 
be  refused,  and  he  be  rebuked  accordingly/' — Minutes,  1758,  p.  285, 
288. 

8.   Constitution  Amended  and  Adopted. 

[In  1787,  preparatory  to  forming  the  General  Assembly,  the  Synod 
ordered  a  thorough  revision  of  the  standards,  altering  the  articles  ex- 
cepted  to  in  the  Adopting  Acts,  and  making  such  amendments  as  were 
found  necessary.  The  Constitution  as  thus  amended  was  adopted.] 


26  I. — OF    TPIE   CHURCH. 

Form  of  Government  and  Discipline,  as  Amended,  Adopted. 

"  The  Synod  having  fully  considered  the  draught  of  the  Form  of 
Government  and  Discipline,  did,  on  review  of  the  whole,  and  hereby  do, 
ratify  and  adopt  the  same,  as  now  altered  and  amended,  as  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America,  and  oi'derthe  same  to  be 
considered  and  strictly  observed  as  the  rule  of  their  proceedings,  by  all 
the  inferior  judicatories  belonging  to  the  body.  And  they  order  that  a 
correct  copy  be  printed,  and  that  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith, 
as  now  altered,  be  printed  in  full  along  with  it,  as  making  a  part  of  the 
Constitution. 

(t  Resolved,  That  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  above  ratification 
by  the  Synod  is,  that  the  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline,  and  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  as  now  ratified,  is  to  continue  to  be  our  Constitu 
tion,  and  the  Confession  of  our  Faith  and  practice  unalterable ;  unless 
two-thirds  of  the  Presbyteries,  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly, 
shall  propose  alterations  or  amendments,  and  such  alterations  or  amend 
ments  shall  be  agreed  to  and  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly." — Min 
utes,  1788,  p.  546. 

Directory  as  Amended  Adopted.     Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms 
Ratified  as  the  Catechisms  of  the  Church. 

"  The  Synod  having  now  revised  and  corrected  the  draught  of  a  Di 
rectory  for  Worship,  did  approve  and  ratify  the  same,  and  do  hereby 
appoint  the  said  Directory,  as  now  amended,  to  be  the  Directory  for  the 
worship  of  God  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  They  also  took  into  consideration  the  Westminster  Larger 
and  Shorter  Catechisms,  and  having  made  a  small  amendment  of  the 
Larger,  did  approve,  and  do  hereby  approve  and  ratify  the  said  Cate 
chisms,  as  now  agreed  on,  as  the  Catechisms  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  said  United  States.  And  the  Synod  order,  that  the  said  Directory 
and  Catechisms  be  printed  and  bound  up  in  the  same  voljirne  with  the 
Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline ;  and 
that  the  whole  be  considered  as  the  standard  of  our  doctrine,  govern 
ment,  discipline,  and  worship,  agreeably  to  the  resolutions  of  the  Synod 
at  their  present  session." — Minutes,  1788,  p.  547. 

9.   Proof  Texts  added  l>y  Order  of  the  Assembly. 
The  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  expediency  of  a  new  im- 


I. — OF   THE    CHURCH.  27 

pression  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline 
of  this  Church,  reported  ....  that  another  impression  appeared 
expedient,  in  which,  if  the  Scripture  proofs  were  inserted  at  length,  it 
would  become  more  acceptable,  and  might  be  of  greater  utility  to  the 
churches ;  and  proposed  that  a  committee  be  appointed  properly  to  select 
and  arrange  the  Scripture  texts  to  be  adduced  in  support  of  the  articles 
in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline,  and 
prepare  the  same  to  be  laid  before  the  next  General  Assembly. 

"Resolved,  That  Dr.  Robert  Smith,  and  Messrs.  Mitchell  and  Grier, 
be  a  committee  to  carry  the  above  into  execution." — Minutes,  1792, 
p.  59. 

"  A  letter  was  received  and  read  from  Mr.  Mitchell,  one  of  the  mem 
bers  of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Assembly  of  1792,  to  revise  and 
prepare  for  publication  an  edition  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms, 
and  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline  of  this  Church,  informing  this 
Assembly  that  considerable  progress  had  been  made  in  the  business,  but 
that  it  was  still  incomplete.  Whereupon  the  business  was  recommitted, 
and  the  Moderator  [the  Rev.  James  Latta],  added  to  the  committee  in 
the  place  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Smith,  deceased,  and  they  were  di 
rected  to  report  to  the  Assembly  in  1794." — Minutes,  1793,  p.  66. 

[The  letter  was  as  follows  :] 

"UPPER  OCTORAUA,  May  14th,  1793. 

"  THE  REVEREND  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY. 

" REVEREND  FATHERS  AND  BRETHREN:  The  task  assigned  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Robert  Smith,  Mr.  Grier,  and  myself,  by  the  last  General  Assembly 
of  our  Church,  was  divided  by  your  committee  in  the  following  manner  : 
Doctor  Smith  undertook  to  adduce  Scripture  testimony  in  proof  of  the 
Larger  Catechism,  Mr.  Grier  the  Shorter,  and  Mr.  Mitchell  the  Confes 
sion  of  Faith  and  Church  Government.  Doctor  Smith's  remove  from 
serving  any  longer  in  the  Church  militant,  has  left  his  part  unfinished, 
and  uncorrefted  (if  correction  it  requires).  I  send  his  manuscript,  and 
the  printed  book,  which  was  the  Doctor's  property.  Mr.  Grier  will  in 
form  the  Reverend  the  General  Assembly  what  progress  he  has  made  on 
his  part.  Your  correspondent  has  completed  the  proofs  for  the  Confession 
of  Faith,  and  made  some  progress  on  Church  Government,  the  first 
twelve  chapters;  but  a  severe  pain  in  my  right  arm,  attended  with  a 
paralysis  in  my  hand,  prevented  me  from  finishing  what  I  had  incon 
siderately  undertaken.  I  hope  I  shall  not  tire  nor  repent  of  any  poor 


28  I. — OP    THE    CHURCH. 

service  I  may  be  called  to  perform  to  the  Church  of  Christ;  but  this 
was  a  herculean  labor  for  the  time  assigned  to  do  it  in. 

"  The  General  Assembly  will  perceive  my  method,  which  was  to  men 
tion  the  chapter  in  the  Confession,  with  its  title  and  the  several  sections 
it  contains  j  then  insert  the  small  letters  of  the  Roman  alphabet  in  the 
printed  copy,  and  these  serve  to  direct  to  those  texts  of  Scripture  ad 
duced  to  prove  the  subject,  or  any  part  of  it,  where  they  are  placed. 
Those  texts  that  appear  to  me  to  be  the  most  adequate  and  suitable  to 
the  design,  I  have  wrote  out  in  full.  Where  I  have  viewed  them  as 
serving  either  as  parallel,  or  corroborating,  I  have  only  set  down  book, 
chapter,  and  verse  in  figures.  There  may  be  lapsus  pennce,  which  can  be 
corrected  when  reviewed  and  examined.  But  these,  with  many  other 
things,  I  submit  to  the  Assembly's  correction  and  inspection.  Had  it 
been  pardonable,  I  should  have  taken  the  liberty  to  have  altered  some 
of  the  terms  and  phraseology  in  our  translation,  as  more  correspondent 
to  the  original ;  but  to  depart  from  established  customs  in  religious  mat 
ters  is  dangerous.  I  would  also  have  abridged  the  proofs ;  but  this 
would  have  raised  a  clamor  among  the  people  at  large,  that  we  had  de 
parted  from  the  ancient  faith.  The  printed  copy  belongs  to  the  General 
Assembly,  and  accompanies  my  manuscript  papers,  together  with  the 
Scripture  proofs  on  Church  Government.  May  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  be  in  the  midst  of  you,  to  direct  and 
assist  you  in  all  your  consultations  and  deliberations  for  his  glory  and  the 
prosperity  of  Zion.  So  prays  your  brother  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

"A.  MITCHELL." 
Minutes,  1793,  p.  66. 

"The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  the  Scripture  proofs  in  support 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Catechisms,  &c.,  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  submitted  their  report,  which  was  read,  examined, 
and  approved  as  a  specimen  of  the  work.  Whereupon  Dr.  Green, 
Messrs.  John  B.  Smith,  James  Boyd,  William  M.  Tennent,  Nathaniel 
Irwin,  and  Andrew  Hunter,  were  appointed  a  committee  to«compare  the 
proofs  prepared  by  said  committee,  and  now  reported  to  the  General 
Assembly,  with  the  proofs  annexed  to  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith,  Catechisms,  and  Directory ;  to  revise  the  whole,  prepare  it  for 
the  press,  to  agree  with  the  printer  for  its  publication,  and  to  superintend 
the  printing  and  vending  of  the  same." — Minutes,  1794,  p.  88. 


I. — OF   THE    CHURCH.  29 

10.  Authority  of  the  Notes.      The  Text  alone  contains  the  Constitution. 

The  committee  to  which  was  referred  an  inquiry,  proposed  to  the 
Assembly  by  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  relative  to  the  notes  found 
in  the  book  containing  the  Constitution,  reported.  Their  report  was 
adopted,  viz. : 

tl  That  the  book  referred  to  was  first  published  with  nothing  but  the 
simple  text,  without  any  Scripture  proofs,  or  any  notes  of  any  description 
whatsoever.  This  is  evident  not  only  from  the  minutes  of  the  General 
Assembly,  but  from  the  numerous  copies  of  this  first  edition  of  the 
standards  of  our  Church  which  are  now  in  existence.  It  is  also  equally 
evident,  from  examining  the  records  of  the  General  Assembly,  that  not 
a  single  note  in  the  book  has  been  added  to  or  made  a  part  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  Church,  since  it  was  first  formed  and  published,  in  the 
manner  above  recited.  Several  alterations  and  additions  have  been  made 
by  referring  them,  when  contemplated,  to  the  Presbyteries  for  their 
decision  thereon,  in  the  manner  pointed  out  in  the  Constitution  itself. 
But  among  all  the  points  thus  referred,  there  is  not  found  a  single  note 
which  now  appears  in  the  book  containing  the  Constitution  of  our  Church. 
Hence  it  follows,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  these  notes  are  no  part  of  that 
Constitution.  If,  then,  it  be  inquired  how  these  notes  obtained  the  place 
which  they  now  occupy,  and  what  is  the  character,  as  to  authority,  which 
they  possess,  the  answer  is  this  :  AVhen  a  second  edition  of  the  standards 
of  our  Church  was  needed,  it  was  thought  by  the  General  Assembly, 
that  it  would  be  of  great  use  in  itself,  highly  agreeable  to  the  members 
of  our  Church  generally,  as  well  as  conformable  to  the  example  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  from  which  we  derive  our  origin,  if  the  Scripture 
proofs  were  added  in  support  of  the  several  parts  and  clauses  of  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  and  Form  of  Government.  A  com 
mittee  was  accordingly  appointed  by  the  Assembly  to  select  the  Scripture 
proofs,  and  to  prepare  them  for  being  printed  in  the  second  edition  of 
the  book.  The  work  of  this  committee  was,  the  following  year,  referred 
to  another,  and  ultimately  the  committee  charged  with  preparing  the 
Scripture  proofs  reported,  along  with  these  proofs,  the  notes  which  now 
appear  in  the  book,  and  which  were  approved  by  the  General  Assembly, 
and  directed  to  be  printed  with  the  proofs,  in  the  form  in  which  they 
now  appear.  These  notes,  then,  are  explanations  of  some  of  the  prin 
ciples  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  given  by  the  General  Assembly,  and 
which,  of  course,  the  General  Assembly  may  modify  or  altogether  ex- 


80  I. — OP   THE   CHURCH. 

elude,  at  their  pleasure,  whereas  the  articles  of  the  Constitution  must 
govern  the  Assembly  themselves,  and  cannot  be  altered  or  abrogated, 
but  in  the  manner  pointed  out  in  the  Constitution  itself. 

"On  the  whole,  in  the  book  containing  the  standards  of  our  Church, 
the  text  alone  contains  the  Constitution  of  our  Church ;  the  notes  are  an 
exposition  of  principles  given  by  the  highest  judicature  of  that  Church, 
of  the  same  force,  while  they  continue,  with  the  other  acts  of  that 
judicature,  but  subject  to  alterations,  amendments,  or  a  total  erasure,  as 
they  shall  judge  proper. 

"  Resolved,  That  as  it  belongs  to  the  General  Assembly  to  give  direc 
tion  in  regard  to  the  notes  which  accompany  the  Constitution,  of  which 
they  are  the  supreme  judicatory,  this  Assembly  express  it  as  their 
opinion,  that  in  printing  future  editions  of  the  Constitution  of  this 
Church,  the  parenthesis  on  the  note,  on  this  part  of  the  Form  of  Govern 
ment,  which  defines  a  Synod,  and  which  is  expressed  in  these  words, 
'  since  a  Synod  is  only  a  larger  Presbytery/  be  omitted,  as  well  as  the 
note  connected  with  the  Scripture  proofs  in  answer  to  the  question  in 
the  Larger  Catechism,  'What  is  forbidden  in  the  eighth  commandment?' 
in  which  the  nature  of  the  crime  of  man-stealing  and  slavery  is  dilated 
upon.  In  regard  to  this  last  omission,  the  Assembly  think  proper  to 
declare,  that  in  directing  it,  they  are  influenced  by  far  other  motives 
than  any  desire  to  favor  slavery,  or  to  retard  the  extinction  of  that 
mournful  evil  as  speedily  as  may  consist  with  the  happiness  of  all  con 
cerned." — Minutes,  1816,  p.  630. 

[NoTE. — These  notes  are  not  found  in  the  Constitution  as  revised  in 
1820.] 

"  Resolved,  That  as  the  notes  which  have  been  expunged  from  our 
public  formularies,  and  which  some  of  the  memorials  referred  to  the 
committee  request  to  have  restored,  were  introduced  irregularly,  and 
never  had  the  sanction  of  the  Church,  and  therefore  never  possessed  any 
real  authority,  the  General  Assembly  has  no  power  to  assign  them  a 
place  in  the  authorized  standards  of  the  Church,  and  does  not  deem  it 
proper  to  take  the  constitutional  measures  for  effecting  their  restora 
tion/'—  Minutes,  1836,  p.  248. 

11.  Use  and  Obligation  of  the  Confession. 

1.  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Assembly,  Confessions  of  Faith,  con 
taining  formulas  of  doctrine,  and  rules  for  conducting  the  discipline  and 


T. — OF    THE    CHURCH.  31 

worship  proper  to  be  maintained  in  the  house  of  God,  are  not  only 
recognized  as  necessary  and  expedient,  but  as  the  character  of  human 
nature  is  continually  aiming  at  innovation,  absolutely  requisite  to  the 
settled  peace  of  the  Church,  and  to  the  happy  and  orderly  existence  of 
Christian  communion.  Within  the  limits  of  Christendom,  few  are  to  be 
found  in  the  attitude  of  avowed  hostility  to  Christianity.  The  name  of 
Christian  is  claimed  by  all,  and  all  are  ready  to  profess  their  belief  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  too  many  reserving  to  themselves  the  right  of  put 
ting  upon  them  what  construction  they  please.  In  such  a  state  of 
things,  without  the  aid  of  Confessions,  Christian  fellowship  can  exist 
only  in  a  very  limited  degree,  and  the  disorder  of  the  Corinthian  Church, 
condemned  by  the  Apostle,  would  be  realized  :  "lam  of  Paul  and  I  of 
Apottos." 

2.  That,  though  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  standards  of  our  Church 
are  of  no   original  authority^  independent  of  the   Scriptures,  yet  we 
regard  them  as  a  summary  of  those  divine  truths  which  are  diffused 
throughout  the  sacred  volume. 

They,  as  a  system  of  doctrines,  therefore,  cannot  be  abandoned,  in  our 
opinion,  without  an  abandonment  of  the  word  of  God.  They  form  a 
bond  of  fellowship  in  the  faith  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  General  Assembly 
cannot  but  believe  the  precious  immortals  under  their  care  to  be  more 
safe  in  receiving  the  truth  of  God's  holy  word,  as  exhibited  in  the 
standards  of  our  Church,  than  in  being  subject  to  the  guidance  of  any 
instructor,  whoever  he  may  be,  who  may  have  confidence  enough  to  set 
up  his  own  opinions  in  opposition  to  the  system  of  doctrines  which  men 
of  sound  learning,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  mighty  in  the  Scriptures, 
have  devised  from  the  oracles  of  the  living  God.  It  should  never  be 
forgotten,  that  the  Church  is  solemnly  cautioned  against  the  danger  of 
being  carried  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine. 

3.  This  Confession  of  Faith,  adopted  by  our  Church,  contains  a  sys 
tem  of  doctrines  professedly  believed  by  the  people  and   the  pastors 
under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly,  nor  can  it  be  traduced  by  any 
in  the  communion  of  our  Church,  without  subjecting  the  erring  parties 
to  that  salutary  discipline  which  hath  for  its  object  the  maintenance  of 
the  peace  and  purity  of  the  Church,  under  the  government  of  her  great 
Master. — Minutes,  1824,  p.  114. 

12.   Subscription  to  the  Standards  in  every  case  required. 
The  committee  appointed  on  an  overture  respecting  the  consistency 


32  I. — OF   THE    CHURCH. 

of  admitting  into  this  Church  ministers  who  manifest  a  decided  hostility 
to  ecclesiastical  creeds,  confessions,  and  formularies,  make  the  following 
report,  which  was  adopted,  viz. : 

1.  That  the  Constitution,  as  is  well  known,  expressly  requires  of  all 
candidates  for  admission,  a  solemn  declaration  that  they  sincerely  receive 
and  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  this  Church,  as  containing  the 
system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

2.  That  the  last  Assembly,  in  a  report  of  their  committee,  to  be  seen 
on  the  minutes,  have  so  explicitly  and  fully  declared  the  sentiments  of 
this  Church  in  regard  to  her  ecclesiastical  standards,  and  all  within  her 
communion  who  may  traduce  them,  that  no  further  expression  of  our 
views  on  this  subject  is  deemed  necessary. — Minutes,  1825,  p.  155. 

13.    The  Catechisms  an  Integral  part  of  the  Standards  of  the  Church. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  Overture  No.  5,  viz.  :  "  On 
subscribing  the  Confession  of  Faith,"  made  the  following  report,  which 
was  unanimously  adopted,  viz. : 

That,  in  their  judgment,  any  further  legislation  on  the  subject  by  the 
Assembly  would  be  unnecessary  and  inexpedient.  They  consider  the 
formula  contained  in  our  book,  and  the  rule  adopted  by  the  Assembly  in 
1830,  viz.  :  u  That,  in  their  judgment,  every  licentiate  coming  by  cer 
tificate  to  any  Presbytery,  in  connection  with  the  General  Assembly,  from 
any  portion  of  a  corresponding  ecclesiastical  body,  should  be  required  to 
answer  in  the  affirmative,  the  constitutional  questions  directed  by  chapter 
fourteenth  of  our  Form  of  Government,  to  be  put  to  our  candidates  be 
fore  they  are  licensed  ;  and  that  in  like  manner  every  ordained  minister 
of  the  Gospel  coining  from  any  church  in  correspondence  with  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  by  certificate  of  dismission  and  recommendation,  should 
be  required  to  answer  affirmatively  the  first  seven  questions  directed  by 
chapter  fifteenth  of  our  Form  of  Government,  to  be  put  to  one  of  our 
own  licentiates  when  about  to  bo  ordained  to  the  sacred  office/  (p.  12, 
1830),  sufficiently  explicit;  and  would  earnestly  recommend  these  to  the 
attention  of  the  Presbyteries  under  the  care  of  the  Assembly. 

As  to  the  question  submitted  to  them,  "  Whether  the  Catechisms, 
Larger  and  Shorter,  are  to  be  considered  as  a  part  of  the  Standards  of 
our  Church,  and  are  comprehended  in  the  words,  Confession  of  Faith  of 
this  Church  ?"  the  committee  feel  no  hesitation  in  answering  that  ques 
tion  in  the  affirmative.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  doubts  on  that  sub- 


I. — OF   THE   CHURCH.  33 

^y?^. 

jcct  have  ever  been  entertained  until  very  recently.  The  committee 
find  in  the  minutes  of  the  old  Synod,  at  the  union  of  the  Synod  of  Phil 
adelphia  with  the  Synod  of  New  York,  in  1758,  that  the  first  article  of 
the  Plan  of  Union  contains  the  following  words  (Digest,  p.  118),  viz. : 
"  Both  Synods,  having  always  approved  and  received  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith  and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  as  an  orthodox 
and  excellent  system  of  Christian  doctrine  founded  on  the  word  of  God, 
we  do  still  receive  the  same  as  the  Confession  of  our  Faith ;  and  also  the 
plan  of  worship,  government,  and  discipline,  contained  in  the  Westmin 
ster  Directory,  strictly  enjoining  it  on  all  our  members  and  probationers 
for  the  ministry  that  they  preach  and  teach  according  to  the  form  of 
sound  words  in  said  Confession  and  Catechisms,  and  avoid  and  oppose 
all  error  contrary  thereto."  In  the  recital  of  the  manner  in  which  a 
Presbytery  was  received  by  the  Synod  of  New  York,  1763,  we  have  the 
following  record  which  is  contained  in  the  Assembly's  Digest,  p.  50  : 
"  It  was  agreed  to  grant  their  request,  provided  that  they  agree  to  adopt 
our  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms,  and  engage  to  ob 
serve  the  Directory  as  a  plan  of  worship,  discipline,  and  government, 
according  to  the  agreement  of  this  Synod." 

In  1788,  in  the  Adopting  Act  of  the  Confession,  as  entered  in  the  Di 
gest,  p.  124,  the  Catechisms  are  distinctly  mentioned  as  a  part  of  our 
standards.  "  They  also  took  into  consideration  the  Westminster  Larger 
and  Shorter  Catechisms,  and  having  made  a  small  amendment  of  the 
Larger,  did  approve,  and  do  hereby  approve  and  ratify  the  said  Cate 
chisms  as  now  agreed  on,  as  the  Catechisms  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  said  United  States.  And  the  Synod  order  that  the  said  Directory 
and  Catechisms  be  printed  and  bound  up  in  the  same  volume  with  the 
Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline;  and 
that  the  whole  be  considered  as  the  standard  of  our  doctrine,  govern 
ment,  discipline,  and  worship,  agreeably  to  the  resolutions  of  the  Synod 
at  their  present  sessions" — one  of  which  resolutions  was  (p.  123),  "  that 
the  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline,  and  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
as  now  ratified,  is  to  continue  to  be  our  constitution  and  the  confession 
of  our  faith  and  practice  unalterably,  unless  two-thirds  of  the  Presby 
teries  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly  shall  propose  alterations 
or  amendments,  and  such  alterations  or  amendments  shall  be  agreed  to 
and  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly."  Accordingly,  in  the  Directory 
for  the  administration  of  baptism,  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of 
the  Westminster  Assembly  are  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  Con- 

3 


34  I. — OF   THE   CHURCH. 

fession  of  Faith,  as  adopted  by  this  Church,  and  are  to  be  recommended 
as  containing  a  summary  of  the  principles  of  our  holy  religion,  taught 
in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 

The  committee  therefore  recommend  to  the  Assembly  the  adoption  of 
the  following  resolutions,  viz.  : 

1.  Resolved  by  the  Assembly,  that  in  receiving  and  adopting  the  Con 
fession  of  Faith,  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Westminster  As 
sembly  of  Divines  are  included,  and  do  constitute  an  integral  part  of  the 
standards  of  this  Church. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  use  of  the  Catechisms  in  the  religious  instruc 
tion  of  the  young  and  of  the  children  under  the  care  of  the  Church,  be 
affectionately  and  earnestly  recommended  to  the  Sessions  in  connection 
with  the  General  Assembly,  as  the  most  effectual  means,  under  God,  of 
preserving    the    purity,  peace,  and  unity  of    our  Church. — Minutes, 
1832,  p.  371. 

14.  Power  of  the  Assembly  to  maJce,  tc  Standing  Rules." 

[The  Presbytery  of  New  York  laid  before  the  Assembly  the  following 
paper,  viz.  :] 

"  The  Presbytery  took  into  consideration  the  regulations  adopted  by 
the  General  Assembly  at  their  last  meeting,  intended  to  embrace  and 
extend  the  existing  rules  respecting  the  reception  of  foreign  Ministers 
and  Licentiates ;  whereupon  the  Presbytery  were  of  opinion  that  if  the 
General  Assembly  designed  these  regulations  as  a  standing  rule,  sup 
posing  that  having  passed  through  their  body,  they  became  obligatory 
upon  the  subordinate  judicatories,  and  ought  to  be  carried  into  immedi 
ate  effect,  they  therein  violated  the  sixth  section  of  the  eleventh  chapter 
of  our  Constitution,  which  says,  '  Before  any  overtures  or  regulations, 
proposed  by  the  Assembly  to  be  established  as  standing  rules,  shall  be 
obligatory  upon  the  churches,  it  shall  be  necessary  to  transmit  them  to  all 
the  Presbyteries,  and  to  receive  the  return  of  at  least  a  majority  of  the 
Presbyteries,  in  writing,  approving  thereof/  " — Minutes,  1799,  p.  172. 

[To  this  the  Assembly  reply :] 

"  1.  That  the  first  reason  assigned  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  for 
their  request  is  founded  on  a  misinterpretation,  of  an  ambiguous  expres 
sion  in  the  Constitution.  The  sixth  section  of  the  eleventh  chapter  is 
thus  expressed  :  '  Before  any  overtures  or  regulations  proposed  by  the 


I. — OF   THE   CHURCH.  35 

Assembly  to  be  established  as  standing  rules  shall  be  obligatory  on  the 
churches,  it  shall  be  necessary  to  transmit  them  to  all  the  Presbyteries, 
and  to  receive  the  returns  of  at  least  a  majority  of  the  Presbyteries,  in 
writing,  approving  thereof/  Standing  rules  in  this  section  can  refer 
only  to  one  of  the  following  objects  :  1st.  To  articles  of  the  Constitution 
which,  when  once  established,  are  unalterable  by  the  General  Assembly ; 
or  2d.  To  every  rule  or  law  enacted  without  any  term  of  limitation  ex 
pressed  in  the  act.  The  latter  meaning  would  draw  after  it  consequences 
so  extensive  and  injurious  as  forbid  the  Assembly  to  give  the  section 
that  interpretation.  It  would  reduce  this  Assembly  to  a  mere  committee 
to  prepare  business  upon  which  the  Presbyteries  might  act.  It  would 
undo,  with  few  exceptions,  all  the  rules  that  have  been  established  by 
this  Assembly  since  its  first  institution,  and  would  prevent  it  forever 
from  establishing  any  rule  not  limited  by  the  terms  of  the  act  itself. 
Besides,  standing  rules,  in  the  evident  sense  of  the  Constitution,  cannot 
be  predicated  of  any  acts  made  by  the  Assembly  and  repealable  by  it, 
because  they  are  limited,  in  their  very  nature,  to  the  duration  of  a  year, 
if  it  please  the  Assembly  to  exert  the  power  inherent  in  it  at  all  times 
to  alter  or  annul  them,  and  they  continue  to  be  rules  only  by  the  As 
sembly's  not  using  its  power  of  repeal.  The  law  in  question  is  no  other 
wise  a  standing  rule  than  all  othgr  laws  repealable  by  this  Assembly." — 
Minutes,  1799,  p.  179. 


SECTION  2. — Or  THE  PARTICULAR  CHURCH. 

1.  A  "  Particular  Church"  defined. — 2.  How  new  Congregations  are  to  be  organ 
ized. — a.  Application  must  be  made  to  the  Presbytery. — b.  Order  of  proceeding 
in  constituting  a  Church. — c.  Covenant  to  be  entered  into. — d.  Ruling  Elders 
and  Deacons  to  be  elected  and  ordained. — e.  The  newly  formed  Church  to  be 
reported  to  Presbytery. — •/.  In  exceptional  cases  congregations  may  be  formed 
without  Ruling  Elders. — 3.  Churches  not  to  be  organized  without  an  order  of 
Presbytery. 

1.   What  is  a  particular  Church? 

a.  "A  particular  Church  consists  of  a  number  of  professing  Christians, 
with  their  offspring,  voluntarily  associated  together  for  divine  worship 
and  godly  living,  agreeably  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  submitting  to  a 
certain  form  of  government." — Form  of  Gov.}  ch.  ii,  sec.  4. 


3b  I. — OF   THE   CHURCH. 

b.  The  committee  to  whom  was  recommitted  the  report  to  the  last 
Assembly  on  the  organization  of  new  churches,  reported  again,  and  their 
report  was  read  and  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

That  a  particular  Presbyterian  Church,  so  far  as  adults  are  concerned, 
is  constituted  and  organized,  as  such,  by  a  number  of  individuals  pro 
fessing  to  walk  together  as  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  on  the  princi 
ples  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Form  of  Government  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church,  and  the  election  and  ordination  of  one  or  more  ruling 
elders,  who,  by  the  ordination  service,  become  the  spiritual  rulers  of  the 
persons  voluntarily  submitting  themselves  to  their  authority  in  the  Lord. 
—Minutes,  1881,  p.  325. 

2.  How  new  Congregations  are  to  be  organized. 

a.  This  organization  ought  always  to  be  made  by  application  to  the 
Presbytery  within  the  bounds  of  which  the  church  to  be  organized  is 
found,  unless  this  be  exceedingly  inconvenient,  in  which  case  it  may  be 
done  by  a  duly  authorized  missionary,  or  a  neighboring  minister  of  the 
Gospel. 

b.  At  the  time  appointed  for  the  purpose,  after  prayer  for  divine  direc 
tion  and  blessing,  the  presiding  minister,  or  committee  appointed  by  the 
Presbytery,  should  first  receive  from  those  persons  to  be  organized  into 
the  new  church,  if  they  have  been  communicants  in  other  churches, 
letters  of  dismission  and  recommendation  j  and  in  the  next  place,  exa 
mine  and  admit  to  a  profession  of  faith,  such  persons  as  may  offer  them 
selves,  and  may  be  judged  suitable  to  be  received  on  examination.     If 
any  of  these  persons,  admitted  to  a  profession  on  examination,  have  not 
been  baptized,  they  should,  in  this  stage  of  the  business,  be  made  the 
subject  of  Christian  baptism. 

c.  The  individuals  ascertained  in  the  foregoing  manner  to  be  desirous 
and  prepared  to  associate  as  a  church  of  Christ,  should  now,  by  some 
public  formal  act,  such  as  rising,  joining  hands,  or  subscribing  a  written 
statement,  agree  and  covenant  to  walk  together  in  a  church  relation, 
according  to  the  acknowledged  doctrines  and  order  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

d.  The  next  step  is  to  proceed  to  the  election  and  ordination  of  ruling 
elders,  in  conformity  with  the  directions  given  on  this  subject  in  the 
Form  of  Government  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Deacons  are  to  be  elected  and  ordained  in  like  manner  as  in  the  case 
of  ruling  elders. — Minutes,  1831,  p.  326. 


I. — OF   THE    CHURCH.  37 

e.  When  a  church  has  been  organized  in  the  manner  already  described, 
report  of  the  same  should  be  made  as  soon  as  practicable  to  the  Presby 
tery  within  whose  bounds  it  is  located.     And  when  a  missionary,  or 
other  minister  of  the  Gospel,  not  specially  appointed  to  the  work  by  a 
Presbytery,  has,  in  the  manner  above  specified,  organized  a  church,  not 
within  the  known  bounds  of  any  Presbytery,  the  church  thus  organized 
should  as  soon   as  practicable  make  known  to  some  Presbytery,  with 
which  it  may  be  most  naturally  and  conveniently  connected,  the  time 
and  manner  of  its  organization,  and  desire  to  be  received  under  the  care 

O  / 

of  said  Presbytery. 

In  cases  in  which  churches  are  to  be  formed  within  the  known 
boundaries  of  any  Presbytery,  it  is  most  desirable  that  persons  wishing 
to  be  organized  as  a  Presbyterian  Church  should  petition  that  Presby 
tery  to  receive  them  under  its  care  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  them 
in  due  form. 

There  may  be  people  in  destitute  portions  of  our  land  who  may  be 
disposed  to  associate  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  Presbyterian  congre 
gation,  when  no  minister  of  the  Gospel  can  be  obtained  to  aid  them. 
The  forming  of  associations  for  such  a  purpose,  in  the  circumstances 
contemplated,  should  be  considered  not  only  as  lawful,  but  highly  com 
mendable.  And  such  associations  when  formed,  should,  as  speedily  as 
possible,  take  measures  for  obtaining  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and 
for  becoming  organized  as  regular  churches. — Minutes,  1831,  p.  326. 

f.  "  Cases  may  also  occur  in  various  places,  in  which  a  collection  or 
association  of  people  may  desire  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  be 
willing  in  whole  or  in  part  to  support  it,  and  yet  may  not  have  suitable 
men  among  them  to  sustain  the  office  of  ruling  elders.     Such  people 
may  and  ought  to  obtain  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel  to  labor  among  them, 
and  occasionally  to  administer  ordinances,  under  the  direction  of  some 
Presbytery,  till  they  shall  find  themselves  in  circumstances  to  make 
proper  choice  of  ruling  elders,  and  to  have  them  regularly  set  apart  to 
their  office."— Minutes,  1831,  p.  326-7. 


3.    To  organize  Churches  belongs  to  the  Presbytery. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  Overture  No.  14,  viz.,  "Is  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel  in  our  connection  ex-officio  authorized  to  organ 
ize  churches  in  the  bounds  of  Presbyteries,  without  any  previous  order 


38  I. — OF   THE    CHURCH. 

of  Presbytery,  directing  such  organization,"  made  a  report  recommend 
ing  the  following  resolution,  which  was  adopted  accordingly,  viz.  : 

Resolved,  That,  except  in  frontier  and  destitute  settlements,  where, 
by  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xv,  sect.  15,  it  is  made  a  part  of  the 
business  of  Evangelists  to  organize  churches ;  and,  except  in  cases  where 
it  is  exceedingly  inconvenient  to  make  application  to  a  Presbytery,  for 
which  provision  is  made  in  the  act  of  Assembly  of  1831,  it  is  not  the 
prerogative  of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  to  organize  churches  without  the 
previous  action  of  some  Presbytery  directing  or  permitting  it;  since  in 
Form  of  Government,  chap,  x,  sect.  8,  to  form  new  congregations  is 
enumerated  among  the  powers  of  the  Presbytery;  and  since  in  chap,  iv, 
of  Bishops  or  Pastors,  no  mention  is  made  of  any  such  power  being 
lodged  in  the  hands  of  an  individual  minister. — Minutes,  1833,  p.  410. 


SECTION  3. — MEMBERS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

1.  Universalists  not  to  be  admitted.  Decision  reaffirmed. — 2.  Persons  refusing  to 
present  their  children  for  baptism  not  to  be  refused  communion;  but  the  expe 
diency  of  receiving  them  to  membership  left  to  the  Session. — 3.  Postmasters 
officiating  on  the  Sabbath  to  be  excluded  from  communion.  Decision  reaf 
firmed. — 4.  Owners  of  stage  coaches  which  run  on  the  Sabbath  ought  not  to  be 
received  to  the  communion  of  the  Church. — 5.  Members  to  be  admitted  to  the 
communion  of  the  Church. — a.  Only  by  an  individual  Session  regularly  consti 
tuted. — b.  By  the  Session  of  that  Church  to  which  he  will  belong. — c.  Undue 
haste  is  to  be  avoided. — 6.  Members  by  letter  should  produce  a  regular  certificate 
of  dismission. — 7.  Absent  members  whose  residence  is  unknown. — a.  Every 
member  amenable  to  some  tribunal. — b.  Cannot  avoid  membership  but  by  death 
or  process. — c.  Withdrawal  irregularly  from  Church  privileges  censurable. — 
d.  Absent  members  not  to  be  stricken  from  the  roll. — e.  But  those -who  wilfully 
withdraw  are  to  be  suspended. — 8.  Members  wishing  to  be  released  from  their 
obligations.  The  provisions  of  the  book  sufficient. 

1.  Who  may  be  received. 

a.  A  question  from  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas  was  introduced  as 
follows,  viz. : 

"  Are  they  who  publicly  profess  a  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  the  uni 
versal  and  actual  salvation  of  the  whole  human  race,  or  of  the  fallen 
angels,  or  both,  through  the  mediation  of  Christ,  to  be  admitted  to  the 
sealing  ordinances  of  the  Gospel  ?" 


I. — Or   THE   CHURCH.  39 

The  Assembly  determined  that  such  persons  should  not  be  admitted. 
—Minutes,  1792,  p.  60. 

b.  The  consideration  of  Dr.  McCorkle's  letter  was  resumed.  On  the 
proposition  in  the  letter;  requesting  a  reconsideration  of  the  sentence  of 
the  General  Assembly,  respecting  the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation, 
passed  at  Carlisle  in  1792,  the  Assembly  unanimously  agreed  to  adhere 
to  the  aforesaid  decision. — Minutes,  1794,  p.  86. 

2.  Persons  refusing  to  present  their  Children  in  Baptism  not  to  be 
refused  Communion;  lut  the  expediency  of  receiving  them  to  be 
judged  of  by  the  Session. 

The  committee  appointed  on  Overture  No.  7,  from  the  session  of 
Union  Grove  church,  Illinois,  made  the  following  report,  which  was 
adopted,  viz. : 

That  two  questions  are  submitted  in  this  overture  to  the  judgment  of 
the  Assembly,  viz. : 

1st.  Is  it  the  duty  of  Church  Sessions  to  admit  to  membership  persons 
who  refuse  to  present  their  children  to  God  in  the  ordinance  of  baptism  ? 

2d.  What  is  the  duty  of  the  Session  in  case  of  parents,  members  of 
the  Church,  who  refuse  from  conscientious  scruples  to  present  their 
children  for  baptism  ? 

For  a  reply  to  these  questions,  the  Session  are  referred  to  the  Digest, 
part  iv,  chap  ii,  sec.  7,  p.  98,  where  the  decision  of  the  Assembly  on 
the  principle  involved  in  both  is  recorded  as  follows : 

"A  letter  also  came,  through  the  Committee  of  Overtures,  from 
Bethuel  Church,  Esq.,  inquiring  whether  he  may  be  admitted  to  occa 
sional  communion,  whilst  he  has  scruples  concerning  infant  baptism. 

"  The  letter  from  Bethuel  Church,  Esq.,  as  overtured,  was  read,  and 
the  motion  formerly  made  thus  amended,  'That  the  Session  of  the 
church  of  Cambridge  be  permitted  to  receive  Mr.  Church  upon  satis 
factory  evidence  of  his  good  character,  his  scruples  notwithstanding/ 
was  taken  up  and  agreed  to." 

But  while  it  'is  clear,  that  persons  otherwise  of  good  Christian  cha 
racter,  are  not  to  be  excluded  from  the  communion  of  the  Church, 
because  they  have  scruples  concerning  infant  baptism,  there  is  in  every 
case,  where  such  persons  apply  for  admission,  a  question  as  to  the  expe 
diency  of  receiving  them,  upon  which  the  Session  of  the  Church  must 
decide.— Minutes,  1834,  p.  449. 


40  I. — OF   THE   CHURCH. 

3.  Postmasters  officiating  on  the  /Sabbath. 

An  appeal  by  Mr.  Wiley,  postmaster  in  Washington,  Pennsylvania, 
from  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  by  which  it  is  determined 
that  Mr.  Wiley's  officiating  as  postmaster  on  the  Sabbath  day,  under 
existing  circumstances,  is  a  sufficient  reason  to  exclude  him  from  the 
special  privileges  of  the  Church,  was  overtured  and  read.  On  motion, 

Resolved,  That  the  above  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  be 
affirmed.  And  it  is  hereby  affirmed. — Minutes,  1810,  p.  456. 

A  petition  signed  by  a  number  of  persons  in  Washington,  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  its  vicinity,  praying  the  revision,  with  a  view  to  its  being 
rescinded,  of  the  decision  of  the  Assembly  of  1810,  respecting  the  case 
of  Mr.  Wiley,  postmaster,  was  overtured. 

Resolved,  That  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  be  not  granted. — Mi 
nutes,  1812,  p.  508. 

4.  May  the  Proprietor  of  a  Stage  running  on  the  /Sabbath  be  received 

in  the  Church  ? 

In  answer  to  an  "  Overture  relative  to  receiving  a  person  as  a  member 
of  the  Church,  who  is  a  proprietor  in  a  line  of  stages  which  carries  the 
mail,  and  runs  on  the  Sabbath;"  the  following  was  adopted. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  decided  opinion  of  this  Assembly,  that  all 
attention  to  worldly  concerns  on  the  Lord's  day,  farther  than  the  works 
of  necessity  and  mercy  demand,  is  inconsistent  both  with  the  letter  and 
spirit  of  the  fourth  commandment ;  and  consequently,  all  engagements 
in  regard  to  secular  occupations  on  the  Lord's  day,  with  a  view  to  secure 
worldly  advantages,  are  to  be  considered  inconsistent  with  Christian 
character;  and  that  those  who  are  concerned  in  such  engagements 
ought  not  to  be  admitted  to  the  communion  of  the  Church,  while  they 
continue  in  the  same. — Minutes,  1819,  p.  713. 

5.  By  whom  to  be  admitted,  &c. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  subject  involved  in  so  much 
of  the  records  of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati  as  relates  to  the  admission  of 
persons  to  church  privileges  at  the  great  meetings  common  in  that 
region,  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

That  they  have  given  this  subject  a  careful  consideration,  and  recom 
mend  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolutions,  viz. : 


I. — OF   THE    CHURCH.  41 

Resolved,  1.  That  the  order  of  the  churches  requires  that  all  persons 
making  a  public  profession  of  religion  be  introduced  to  the  communion 
of  the  Church  only  by  an  individual  Session  regularly  constituted 

Resolved,  2.  That  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  Sessions  to  take  the  ex 
clusive  oversight  of  their  respective  congregations,  and  that  the  practice 
of  one  Session  admitting  to  a  Christian  profession  persons  belonging  or 
intending  to  belong  to  a  congregation  under  the  care  of  another  Session, 
is  irregular,  and  ought  not  to  be  countenanced. 

Resolved,  3.  That  the  purity  and  prosperity  of  the  Church,  as  well 
as  the  best  interests  of  those  immediately  concerned,  demand  great  cir 
cumspection  in  the  admission  of  persons  to  church  privileges ',  and  that 
ordinarily  it  is  deemed  improper  to  receive  persons  immediately  upon 
their  indulging  a  hope  of  reconciliation  with  God,  and  especially  in  the 
case  of  the  young,  and  of  persons  of  previously  immoral  lives  or  lax 
principles,  and  of  those  concerning  whom  little  is  known. — Minutes, 
1832,  p.  373. 

6.  Members  received  by  Certificate. 

Nor  can  the  Assembly  forbear  to  regret  that  the  Session  of  Chilicothe 
had  not  acted  in  a  more  formal  manner,  in  receiving  Mr.  McCalla,  and 
had  not  required  a  regular  certificate  of  dismission  from  the  church  to 
which  Mr.  McCalla  belonged  before  they  received  him. — Minutes,  1821, 
p.  21. 

7.  Absent  Members,  whose  Residence  is  unknown. 

a.  The  committee  appointed  on  the  overture  from  the  Synod  of  New 
Jersey,  inquiring  what  a  church  Session  ought  to  do  with  members  in 
communion,  who  have  been  absent  for  years  without  having  taken  a 
certificate  of  dismission,  and  whose  place  of  residence  is  unknown,  made 
a  report,  which,  being  read  and  amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  fol 
lows,  viz. : 

That  although  this  particular  case  is  not  provided  for  by  a  specific 
regulation  in  our  Book  of  Discipline,  yet  it  is  embraced  by  certain 
general  principles,  which  are  recognized  in  that  book,  and  interwoven 
with  many  of  its  provisions.  These  principles,  together  with  the  result, 
bearing  on  the  case  in  question,  the  committee  beg  leave  most  respect 
fully  to  state : 

1.  Every  church  member  is  amenable  to  some  appropriate  tribunal, 


42  I. — OF   THE   CHURCH. 

by  the  wisdom  and  fidelity  of  which,  in  case  of  his  falling  into  any 
error,  immorality,  or  negligence,  he  may  be  dealt  with  according  to  the 
word  of  God. 

2.  No  member  of  a  church  can  properly  ever  cease  to  be  such  but  by 
death,  exclusion,  a  regular  dismission,  or  an  orderly  withdrawing  to  join 
some  other  Christian  denomination ;  and  must  of  necessity  continue  to 
be  amenable  to  that  church  until  he  becomes  regularly  connected  with 
another. 

3.  For  a  church  member  to  withdraw  from  a  use  of  his  privileges  as 
a  member,  either  by  irregularly  connecting  himself  with  another  deno 
mination,  or  by  going  to  a  distant  part  of  the  world,  to  reside  for  a 
number  of  years,  without  making  known  his  removal  to  the  church  Ses 
sion,  and  asking  a  certificate  either  of  good  standing,  for  the  purpose  of 
enjoying  occasional  eornmunion  elsewhere,  or  of  dismission,  to  join  some 
other  church,  is  itself  a  censurable  violation  of  the  principles  of  church 
fellowship,  and  may  infer  suspension  from  its  privileges. 

4.  Church  members,  therefore,  who  have  been  absent  for  a  number 
of  years  in  unknown  places,  are  by  no  means  to  have  their  names  erased 
from  the  churches  to  which  they  respectively  belong,  but  are  to  be  held 
responsible  to  their  respective  churches ;  and  if  they  should  ever  return, 
or  be  heard  from,  are  to  be  regularly  dealt  with  according  to  the  word 
of  God,  and  the  principles  of  our  Church ;  and,  although  great  caution 
and  tenderness  ought  to  be  exercised  toward  those  whose  withdrawing 
from  Christian  privileges  may  be  occasioned  by  the  unavoidable  dispen 
sations  of  Providence,  without  any  material  fault  of  their  own,  yet  in 
all  cases  in  which  a  church  Session  has  good  reason  to  believe  that  any 
of  the  church  under  their  care  have  absented  themselves  with  design, 
either  from  a  disregard  of  Christian  privilege,  or  from  a  wish  to  escape 
from  the  inspection  and  discipline  of  the  Church,  they  ought  without 
unnecessary  delay  to  declare  such  persons  suspended  from  the  privileges 
of  the  Church,  until  they  give  evidence  of  repentance  and  reformation; 
and,  of  course,  in  making  their  statistical  reports,  ought  to  enumerate 
such  among  the  members  under  suspension. — Minutes,  1825,  p.  138-9. 

b.  The  Records  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  were  ap 
proved,  with  the  exception  of  the  action  of  the  Synod  (p.  381)  in  rela 
tion  to  the  course  of  the  Presbytery  of  North  River,  in  the  case  of 
delinquent  church  members. — Minutes,  1853,  p.  323. 

[The  record  referred  to  is  as  follows,  viz. :  "  The  Committee  on  the 
Records  of  the  Presbytery  of  North  River,  reported  recommending  that 


I. — OP   THE   CHURCH.  43 

they  be  approved  as  far  as  written,  with  the  following  exception,  viz. : 
On  page  18,  the  Presbytery  refused  to  sustain  the  following  exception 
to  the  Records  of  the  Session  of  Freedom  Plains,  viz. : 

"  That  several  members  o£  the  church  have  been  suspended  by  the 
Session  simply  for  having  absented  themselves  for  years,  and  having  gone 
beyond  the  knowledge  of  the  Session  without  applying  for  certificates. 
The  Report  was  adopted." — Minutes  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey. ~\ 

The  Rev.  William  Homes,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  forty-three  other 
commissioners,  in  accordance  with  notice  given  yesterday,  submitted  the 
following  dissent  from  the  action  of  the  Assembly  on  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  the  Records  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey : 

"  The  undersigned,  acting  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  unfeignedly  regard 
ful  of  the  interests  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  just  rights  of 
its  individual  members,  in  the  full  belief  that  the  action  of  the  Assem 
bly,  in  excepting  to  the  Records  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey,  was  erroneous  in  judgment,  and  may  prove  the  sanction  of  fu 
ture  action  mischievous  to  the  honor  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  involving 
principles  injurious  to  the  interests  of  religion  and  subversive  of  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  ask 
leave  respectfully  to  dissent  from  the  action  above  mentioned  for  the  fol 
lowing  reasons : 

"  1.  It  concedes  to  the  judicatories  of  the  Church  the  right  to  inflict 
a  judicial  sentence  upon  members  of  churches,  without  a  trial,  contrary 
to  the  Form  of  Government,  in  which  there  is  no  authority  whatever  for 
sentence  of  any  kind  against  such  without  a  fair  and  impartial  trial,  a 
citation  and  a  hearing. 

"2.  It  violates  the  constitutional  rights  of  individuals,  not  less  sacred 
in  the  Church  than  out  of  it,  to  such  trial  for  any  alleged  offence  before 
sentence  of  condemnation  can  be  pronounced  upon  them  ;  reversing  also 
the  principle  of  common  law,  that  innocence  is  to  be  presumed  of  every 
individual  till  proved  guilty  by  due  process  of  trial,  he  having  fair  op 
portunity  to  explain  or  defend. 

"3.  It  is  mischievous  to  the  interests  of  justice  and  the  credit  of 
religion,  in  that  it  establishes  the  principle,  that  not  only  in  the  offence 
in  question,  but  in  any  and  every  alleged  offence,  a  judicatory  may  sit  in 
judgment  upon  members  of  churches,  and,  without  legitimate  trial, 
record  sentence  of  suspension  or  excommunication. 

"  4.  Affording  license  as  it  does  for  such  indiscriminate  and  unlimited 


44  I. — OF   THE   CHURCH. 

illegal  action,  even  if  the  course  of  the  lower  judicatory  should  be  de 
fined  and  limited  to  cases  where  Sessions  could  know  that  members  had 
unworthily  separated  themselves  from  church  association,  yet  sentence 
of  suspension  is  utterly  unwarranted  in  such  cases  without  a  citation  and 
a  hearing ;  and,  moreover,  the  difficulty  in  ascertaining  the  real  facts, 
and  the  possibility  of  committing  a  mistake,  are  so  manifest,  that  such  a 
proceeding  is  to  be  discountenanced  in  all  cases. 

"  5.  By  assuming  that  members  of  churches  have  absented  themselves 
without  good  and  sufficient  reasons,  when,  in  many  cases,  it  is  impossible 
that  the  judicatory  should  know  anything  about  it,  it  allows  that  a  stigma 
may  be  inflicted  upon  members  of  the  Church,  worthy,  and  in  other 
places  fulfilling  conspicuously  their  obligations  as  true  and  honorable 
members  of  Christ's  Church  universal,  and  upon  others  who  are  kings 
and  priests  unto  God  in  the  New  Jerusalem. 

"  6.  Even  if  it  be  affirmed  that  such  sentence  of  suspension,  as  is 
sanctioned  by  the  action  from  which  we  regret  to  be  compelled  to  dis 
sent,  entails  no  obloquy;  yet  the  Form  of  Government  knows  nothing 
of  a  sentence  of  suspension  from  the  honorable  and  precious  privileges 
of  church  membership  that  does  not  imply  guilt  and  reproach,  and  fur 
nishes  no  authority  for  a  sentence  of  condemnation  without  dishonor. 

"  For  these  reasons,  which  seem  to  us  to  take  deep  hold  of  the  founda 
tions  of  justice  and  true  religion  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  be 
lieving  that  the  offence  for  which  it  is  implied  that  sentence  of  suspen 
sion  may  be  pronounced  without  a  trial,  however,  as  we  freely  allow,  it 
is  one  requiring  the  notice  of  Church  Sessions,  is  not  one  so  offensive  to 
the  honor  of  Christ,  or  destructive  of  the  purity  and  edification  of  the 
Church,  as  to  justify  the  alarming  proceeding  of  a  departure  from  the 
express  enactment  of  our  Form  of  Government,  and  an  ignoring  of  those 
rights  guaranteed  by  civil  and  ecclesiastical  law,  we  beg  leave  to  dissent 
from  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  to  have  these  reasons 
spread  upon  the  minutes." — Minutes,  1853,  pp.  325,  326. 

The  Rev.  Marcus  Smith,  Rev.  E.  J.  Richards,  Rev.  J.  C.  Smith,  and 
Hon.  William  Strong,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  answer  the  fore 
going  dissent,  who  subsequently  presented  a  report,  which  was  adopted, 
and  is  as  follows  : 

"  It  is  fully  conceded  and  firmly  maintained  by  the  General  Assembly 
that,  in  all  cases  where  an  offender  can  be  reached  by  citation  and  brought 
to  trial,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  judicatory  to  which  he  is  directly  amena 
ble,  to  proceed  against  him  according  to  the  process  prescribed  by  the 
Book  of  Discipline. 


I. — OF   THE   CHURCH.  45 

"But  the  action  complained  of  by  the  dissentients  relates  to  a  very 
different  class  of  cases.  The  individuals  in  question  have  absented  them 
selves  from  the  church  with  which  they  are  connected,  and  after  diligent 
inquiry  cannot  be  found.  They  are,  therefore,  beyond  the  reach  of  cita 
tion.  They  cannot  possibly  be  brought  to  trial.  Shall  the  Church,  in 
such  cases,  be  responsible  for  them  ?  As  they  have  placed  themselves 
beyond  the  oversight  of  the  Church,  it  is  but  reasonable  that  the  Church 
should  be  permitted  to  secure  itself  against  any  reproach  which  might 
come  upon  it  from  the  conduct  of  such  absentees. 

"In  accordance  with  these  principles,  the  Constitution  of  our  Church 
makes  provision  (Book  of  Discipline,  chapter  xi),  for  the  case  of  ab 
sent  church  members.  It  relieves  the  Church  from  the  responsibility  of 
sustaining  a  certificate  of  good  standing  when  it  has  run  on  for  more 
than  one  year.  It  implies  that  a  church  member  may  not  absent  him 
self  a  longer  time  from  the  ordinances,  without  a  forfeiture  of  his  good 
standing.  In  those  cases,  therefore,  where  individuals  have  absented 
themselves  for  years  together,  and  after  the  most  diligent  inquiry  cannot 
be  found,  it  is  but  right  that  the  Session  of  the  church  to  which  they 
are  amenable  should  make  entry  of  the  fact  on  their  records,  and  de 
clare  such  persons  to  have  forfeited  their  good  standing,  until  they  return 
and  account  for  their  absence.  Such  was  the  judgment  of  the  Assembly 
of  1825,  with  which  this  Assembly  perfectly  accords." 

The  Rev.  S.  Holmes  moved  a  reconsideration  of  the  action  of  the 
Assembly  in  reference  to  the  Records  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey. 

The  motion  was  lost. — Minutes,  1853,  p.  327. 

8.  Members  who  wish  to  be  released  from  their  Obligations. 

The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church  reported  a  paper,  "ask 
ing  what  shall  be  done  with  certain  Church  members,  against  whose 
moral  character  no  charges  can  be  made,  but  who  wish  to  be  released 
from  their  Church  obligations.  The  committee  recommend  that  such 
cases  be  referred  to  the  sound  discretion  of  the  Sessions  to  which  such 
persons  may  be  answerable ;  reminding  the  Sessions,  that  it  is  a  funda 
mental  law  of  the  Church  that  no  person  can  be  suspended  from  the 
communion  of  the  Church,  or  have  any  other  penalty  inflicted,  without 
regular  citation  and  trial,  according  to  the  form  prescribed  in  our  Book 
of  Discipline." 


46  I. — OP   THE   CHURCH. 

The  report  was  recommitted,  "  with  instructions  to  report,  that  no 
new  order  be  taken  in  the  case." — Minutes,  1859,  pp.  17,  18. 

Subsequently,  "  The  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Case  of  Delin 
quent  Church  Members  was  taken  up,  and  it  was  resolved,  in  accordance 
with  their  recommendation,  that  the  provisions  of  the  Book  of  Discipline 
are  all  that  is  needed/'— Minutes,  1859,  p.  48. 


CHAPTER  II. 

OFFICERS    OF    THE   CHURCH. 
SECTION  1. — DEACONS. 

1.  Have  no  juridical  power. — 2.  Their  duty  consists  in  distributing  the  charities 
of  the  Church  to  the  poor. — 3.  To  be  ordained  in  the  same  manner  as  Ruling 
Elders. — 4.  The  duties  of  Trustees  and  Deacons  not  identical,  and  Ministers 
not  ex-officio  members  or  Presidents  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

1.  Deacons  have  no  Juridical  Powers. 

"We  need  only  represent  unto  you  the  ends  and  institution  of  Scrip 
ture  Deacons,  and  that  there  is  no  juridical  power  allowed  them  in  the 
Scriptures."— Minutes,  1716,  p.  42. 

2.    Their  Duty  consists  in  distributing  the  Charities  of  the  Church  to 

the  Poor. 

The  committee  on  Overture  No.  4,  viz.,  a  reference  from  the  Presby 
tery  of  West  Tennessee,  requesting  an  answer  to  the  two  following  ques 
tions,  viz.,  1.  What  are  the  nature  and  duties  of  the  office  of  deacon? 

2.  What  is  the  Scriptural  and  appropriate  mode  of  ordination  ? — made 
the  following  report,  which  was  adopted,  viz. : 

In  answer  to  the  first  inquiry,  "  What  are  the  nature  and  duties  of 
the  office  of  deacon  ?"  we  reply  :  The  answer  we  conceive  to  be  expli 
citly  given  in  our  Form  of  Government,  chapter  vi.  Their  duties  there 
are  plainly  made  to  consist  in  distributing  the  charities  of  the  church  to 
which  they  belong,  to  the  poor  of  that  church.  Over  charities  collected 
for  any  other  purpose  than  those  specified,  their  office  gives  them  no 
control.  In  addition  to  this  the  temporalities  of  the  church  generally 
may  be  committed  to  their  care. — Minutes,  1833,  p.  405. 


48  II. — OFFICERS    OF   THE   CHURCH. 


3.    To  be  ordained  in  the  same  manner  as  Ruling  Elders. 

In  answer  to  the  second  inquiry,  "  What  is  the  Scriptural  and  appro 
priate  mode  of  ordaining  them  T'  we  reply  :  Our  Form  of  Government, 
chap,  xiii,  sec.  4,  declares  that  such,  whether  Elder  or  Deacon,  shall 
be  set  apart  to  their  respective  offices  by  prayer.  The  imposition  of 
hands,  however,  we  are  aware,  in  many  of  our  churches,  is  practised, 
and,  as  it  is  plainly  in  accordance  with  apostolic  example,  it  is  the 
opinion  of  the  committee  that  it  is  proper  and  lawful.  We  conceive 
that  every  church  in  this  respect  may  with  propriety  be  left  to  adopt 
either  of  these  two  modes,  as  they  think  suitable  and  best. — Minutes, 
1833,  p.  405. 

4.  The  appointment  of  Trustees,  not  inconsistent  with  Presbyterianism  ; 
their  Duties  distinct  from  those  of  Deacons.  Ministers  are  not  ex- 
officio  Members  or  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

"It  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  Presbyterian  plan  of  government,  nor 
the  institution  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  Trustees,  or  a  committee 
chosen  by  the  Congregation,  should  have  the  disposal  and  application  of 
the  public  money  raised  by  said  Congregation,  to  the  uses  for  which  it 
was  designed ;  provided  that  they  leave  in  the  hands  and  to  the  manage 
ment  of  the  Deacons,  what  is  collected  for  the  Lord's  table,  and  the  poor. 
And  that  Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  by  virtue  of  their  office,  have  no 
right  to  sit  with  or  preside  over  such  Trustees  or  committees." — Minutes, 
1752,  p.  249. 


SECTION  2. — RULING  ELDERS. 

1.  The  Eldership  is  essential  to  the  existence  of  a  Presbyterian  Church. — 2.  Elders 
must  be  duly  elected. — 3.  Mode  of  Election. — 4.  Who  are  electors  of  Ruling 
Eiders  and  Deacons? — a.  Baptized  persons  only,  legal  voters. — 6.  No  distinc 
tion  is  to  be  made  as  to  the  ages  of  the  voters. — 5.  The  office  of  a  Ruling  Elder 
is  perpetual.  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xiii,  sec.  6.  Election  for  a  term  of 
years  is  irregular,  but  not  invalid. — 6.  An  Elder  may  resign  his  office.  Form 
of  Government,  chap,  xiii,  sec.  6. — 7.  In  which  case  he  has  no  seat  in  any 
Church  court. — 8.  An  Elder  cannot  hold  office  in  two  churches  at  the  same 
time,  nor  adjudicate  in  a  church  in  which  he  is  not  an  Elder. — 9.  Elders  cen 
sured  for  leaving,  and  also  for  non-attendance  upon  Church  courts. — 10.  An 


II. — OFFICERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.  49 

Elder  who  may  sit  in  Presbytery,  may  sit  in  Synod  by  the  same  right. — 11. 
Every  church  having  a  stated  supply,  entitled  to  be  represented  by  an  Elder. — 

12.  A  Minister  with  one  Elder,  may  form  a  Session,  if  there  be  but  one  Elder. — 

13.  Restoration  to  Church  privileges,  does  not  restore  to  office. — 14.  Elders  are 
not  to  participate  in  the  ordination  of  Ministers,  by  the  laying  on  of  hands. 

1.   The  Eldership  essential  to  the  Existence  of  a  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  The  report  of  the  Committee  to  Examine  the  Records  of  the  Synod 
of  the  Western  Reserve  was  taken  up  and  adopted ;  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 
That  the  records  be  approved,  with  the  exception  of  the  sentiment  on 
page  154,  viz.,  that  the  Eldership  is  not  essential  to  the  existence  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  the  Synod 
advance  a  sentiment  that  contravenes  the  principles  recognized  in  our 
Form  of  Government,  chap,  ii,  sec.  4;  chap,  iii,  sec.  5;  chap,  v; 
chap,  ix,  sects.  1,  2."— Minutes,  1833,  p.  404. 

[This  does  not  prevent  the  forming  of  congregations  for  religious  wor 
ship,  where  they  "  may  not  have  suitable  persons  among  them  to  sustain 
the  office  of  Ruling  Elder."  See  ante,  p.  37.] 

2.  Elders  must  le  duly  elected. 

"  The  following  inquiry  was  referred  to  the  decision  of  the  Assembly, 
by  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas,  viz. : 

"In  what  point  of  light  are  the  Elders,  nominated  and  ordained  by 
Mr.  Balch,  to  be  viewed  hereafter  in  Mount  Bethel  Congregation  ? 

"It  was  determined  by  the  Assembly  that  the  f  Elders7  mentioned  in 
the  inquiry,  are  to  be  henceforth  viewed  as  private  Church  members 
only,  unless  they  be  duly  elected  and  set  apart  as  Church  officers  here 
after."—  Minutes,  1798,  p.  158. 

3.  Mode  of  Election. 

"  Every  congregation  shall  elect  persons  to  the  office  of  ruling  elder, 
and  to  the  office  of  deacon,  or  either  of  them,  in  the  mode  most  approved 
and  in  use  in  that  congregation." — Form  of  Government,  chap,  xiii, 
sec.  2. 

a.  "  And  while  the  Assembly  would  recognize  the  undoubted  right 
of  each  congregation  to  elect  their  elders  in  the  mode  most  approved  and 
in  use  among  them,  they  would  recommend  that  in  all  cases  where  any 

4 


50  II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

dissatisfaction  appears  to  exist,  the  congregation  be  promptly  convened 
to  decide  on  their  future  mode  of  election.  And  they  are  inclined  to 
believe  that  the  spirit  of  our  Constitution  would  be  most  fully  sustained 
by  having,  in  all  cases,  a  direct  vote  of  the  congregation  in  the  appoint 
ment  of  elders."— Minutes,  1827,  p.  215. 

It.  The  committee  on  Overture  No.  9,  relating  to  an  amendment  in  the 
Form  of  Government,  chap,  xiii,  sec.  20,  reported,  and  their  report  was 
adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  consideration  of  the  Over 
ture  (No.  9)  relating  to  an  alteration  of  that  part  of  the  Constitution  of 
our  Church  which  gives  the  right  of  choosing  ruling  elders  and  deacons 
to  the  congregation,  in  the  way  most  approved  and  in  use  in  the  congre 
gation,  reported,  that  after  deliberating  on  the  subject,  they  find  them 
selves  unable  to  devise  any  method  by  which  a  uniformity  of  practice 
can  be  established  in  this  interesting  concern  throughout  the  different 
sections  of  our  Church,  and  believe  that  any  alteration,  effected  in  the 
Constitution,  with  a  view  to  relieve  the  difficulties  in  one  section,  would 
produce  difficulties  in  another  section  of  the  Church.  The  committee 
therefore  judge  it  inexpedient  to  propose  any  alteration,  and  recommend 
that  the  Assembly  dismiss  this  subject  from  any  further  consideration/' 
—Minutes,  1826,  p.  187. 

c.  "  The  Assembly  gave  their  opinion,  that  the  Session  of  a  church 
has  the  authority  to  convene  the  congregation  for  all  such  purposes;  but 
should  the  Session  neglect  or  refuse  to  convene  the  congregation,  the 
party  feeling  aggrieved  has  its  remedy  by  application  to  Presbytery  in 
the  form  of  a  complaint." — Minutes,  1822,  p.  49. 

4.  Who  are  the  Electors  of  Ruling  Elders  and  Deacons? 

a.  The  consideration  of  the  report  of  the  committee  to  which  was 
referred  the  appeal  of  Messrs.  Lowerie  and  Kelso  from  the  decision  of 
the  Synod  of  Ohio,  affirming  the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  of  Miami, 
by  which  decision  the  Presbytery  had  pronounced  the  election  of  Messrs. 
Dillingham  and  llice  to  the  office  of  ruling  elders  in  the  Second  Presby 
terian  Church  of  Cincinnati  a  valid  election,  was  resumed  and  finished ', 
and  the  report  being  amended  and  fully  discussed,  was  adopted,  and  is 
as  follows,  viz. : 

The  General  Assembly,  having  gone  fully  into  the  consideration  of 
the  appeal  from  the  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio  by  Messrs.  Lowerie 


II. — OFFICERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.  51 

and  Kelso,  and  having  seen,  with  deep  regret,  the  appearance  of  much 
disorder  in  the  whole  business,  which  they  disapprove ;  believing,  as 
the  Assembly  do,  that  the  election  of  elders  should  be  conducted  with 
all  due  deliberation,  according  to  the  letter  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  Gospel,  and 
that,  although  the  Assembly  are  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  most 
desirable  to  have  the  communicants  only  as  the  electors  of  ruling  elders, 
yet,  as  it  appears  to  be  the  custom  in  some  of  the  churches  in  the  Pres 
byterian  connection  to  allow  this  privilege  to  others,  they  see  no  reason 
why  the  election  should  be  considered  void,  nor  any  reason  why  the 
decision  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio  should  not  be  affirmed. 

Therefore  Resolved,  that  the  sentence  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio  be,  and  it 
hereby  is  affirmed. — Minutes,  1822,  p.  49. 

1.  The  committee  on  Overture  No.  1,  viz.,  the  following  reference 
from  the  Presbytery  of  Steubenville  :  Ought  an  unbaptized  person,  who 
yet  pays  his  proportion  for  the  support  of  a  congregation,  to  be  permitted 
to  vote  for  ruling  elders  ?  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted, 
viz.: 

That,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  the  office  of  ruling  elder  is  an 
office  in  the  Church  of  Christ;  that  ruling  elders,  as  such,  according  to 
our  Confession  of  Faith,  book  i,  on  Government,  chap,  v,  are  "the 
representatives  of  the  people  by  whom  they  are  chosen,  for  the  purpose 
of  exercising  government  and  discipline,"  in  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ;  that  the  discipline  lawfully  exercised  by  them  is  the  dis 
cipline  exercised  through  them  by  their  constituents,  in  whose  name 
and  by  whose  authority  they  act  in  all  that  they  do.  To  suppose,  there 
fore,  that  an  unbaptized  person,  not  belonging  to  the  visible  kingdom  of 
the  Redeemer,  might  vote  at  the  election  of  ruling  elders,  would  be  to 
establish  the  principle,  that  the  children  of  this  world  might,  through 
their  representatives,  exercise  discipline  in  the  Church  of  God ;  which 
is  manifestly  unscriptural,  and  contrary  to  the  standards  of  our  Church; 
your  committee  would  therefore  recommend,  that  the  question  in  the 
said  overture  be  answered  in  the  negative. — Minutes,  1830,  p.  284. 

c.  The  Committee  on  Polity  reported  paper  No.  4,  inquiring  as  to  the 
right  of  minors  to  vote  in  the  election  of  elders  and  deacons.  The  com 
mittee  recommend  to  return  for  answer — 

That  it  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  principles  and  usages  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  to  distinguish  between  members  of  the  Church  as 
to  their  ages  in  voting  for  officers  of  the  Church. 


52  II. — OFFICERS    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

The  recommendation  was  adopted. — Minutes,  1859,  p.  18. 

5.    The  office  of  Ruling  Elder  is  perpetual.     Election  for  a  term  of 
years  is  irregular,  but  not  invalid. 

a.  "  The  report  of  the  committee  on  Overture  No.  1  was  amended  and 
adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  Overture  No.  1,  a  communica 
tion  from  the  Session  of  Wheatland  congregation  in  reference  to  the  ap 
pointment  of  Freeman  Edson  as  a  commissioner  to  this  Assembly,  beg 
leave  to  present  the  following  report,  viz.  : 

"  Agreeably  to  the  Constitution  of  our  Church,  the  office  of  Ruling 
Elder  is  perpetual  (see  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xiii,  sec.  6),  and  can 
not  be  laid  aside  by  the  will  of  the  individual  called  to  that  office,  nor 
can  any  congregation  form  rules  which  would  make  it  lawful  for  any  one 
to  lay  it  aside.  Your  committee  are1  of  opinion  that  the  mode  of  elect 
ing  Elders  in  the  congregation  of  Wheatland  for  a  term  of  years  was 
irregular,  and  ought  in  future  to  be  abandoned,  but  cannot  invalidate  the 
ordination  of  persons  thus  elected  and  ordained  to  the  office  of  Ruling 
Elder.  And  whereas,  it  appears  that  Mr.  Freeman  Edson  was  once 
elected  to  the  office  of  Ruling  Elder  in  the  church  of  Wheatland,  and 
was  regularly  set  apart  to  that  office ;  whereas,  there  seems  to  be  some 
material  diversity  of  views  between  the  Presbytery  of  Rochester  and 
the  church  Session  to  which  Mr.  Edson  once  belonged,  as  to  the  man 
ner  in  which,  and  the  principle  on  which,  he  ceased  to  be  an  acting 
Elder  in  the  said  church,  into  which  the  Assembly  have  no  opportunity 
at  present  of  regularly  examining;  and  whereas,  the  Presbytery,  with  a 
distinct  knowledge,  as  is  alleged,  of  all  the  circumstances  attending  this 
case,  gave  Mr.  Edson  a  regular  commission  as  a  Ruling  Elder  to  this 
General  Assembly ;  therefore 

"  Resolved,  That  he  retain  his  seat  as  a  member  of  the  Assembly." — 
Minutes,  1835,  p.  471. 

b.  "The  overture  on  limiting  the  term  of  service  of  Ruling  Elders 
was,  on  motion,  taken  up  for  consideration.     The  report  of  the  commit 
tee  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  :  Whereas,  sundry  memorials  have 
been  presented  to  the  Assembly,  asking  fora  change  of  the  Constitution, 
respecting  the  term  of  service  in  the  office  of  Ruling  Elder. 

"  Resolved,  That  while  the  Assembly  sympathize  with  those  churches, 
which  are  more  especially  tried  by  the  present  rule,  yet,  believing  that 


II. — OFFICERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.  53 

the  evils  of  a  change  would  far  outweigh  those  of  the  present  system, 
they  are  not  prepared  to  recommend  any  overture  on  the  subject/' — 
Minutes,  1849,  p.  182. 

c.  "  An  overture  from  the  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania,  asking  t  whe 
ther  the  Constitution  of  our  Church  shall  be  so  altered  as  to  make  the 
term  of  office  of  Ruling  Elder  temporary  in  such  churches  as  prefer  it/ 
was  taken  up  and  answered  as  follows : 

"  The  Assembly  do  not  deem  it  expedient,  or  for  the  edification  of  the 
Church,  to  send  down  to  the  Presbyteries  such  an  overture ;  the  most 
obvious  and  natural  construction  of  our  Form  of  Government  does  not 
contemplate  a  rotatory  Eldership ;  and  while  such  an  organization  of  a 
Session  is  not  Anti-presbyterial,  yet  the  Assembly  would  discourage  the 
adoption  of  the  principle  in  our  Church,  from  respect  to  the  plain  mean 
ing  of  our  rule ;  but  nothing  in  this  resolution  is  intended  to  disturb  the 
relations  of  those  churches  which  have  adopted  the  principle  of  a  limited 
period  in  the  service  of  Elders." — Minutes,  1852,  p.  177. 


6.  A  Ruling  Elder  may  cease  to  act  as  such. 

[See  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xiii,  sees.  6,  7.] 

a.  "  A  petition  from  the  members  o£  the  Session  of  the  Third  Pres 
byterian  Church  in  this  city,  asking  advice  of  this  Synod  with  respect 
to  the  execution  of  their  office  in  consequence  of  the  judgment  of  the 
Synod  respecting  that  church.  After  it  was  duly  considered,  they  re 
turned  the  following  answer,  viz. :  The  Synod  advise  them  to  continue 
to  act  as  elders,  but  in  case  they  cannot,  consistently  with  what  they 
apprehend  to  be  their  duty,  continue  as  such,  and  act  upon  the  decisions 
of  Synod,  that  they  may  resign  their  office,  and  the  congregation  pro 
ceed  to  choose  other  elders,  who  may  have  freedom  to  act  according  to 
the  determinations  of  the  Synod." — Minutes,  1772,  p.  435. 

&.  "The  Assembly  earnestly  recommend  to  the  whole  Session,  in 
cluding  the  majority  and  the  minority,  in  view  of  the  state  of  the  Fifth 
Church,  to  take  the  constitutional  steps,  and  cease  from  acting  as  Ruling 
Elders  in  that  congregation,  and  that  the  entire  church  take  immediate 
measures  to  elect  a  new  bench  of  Elders,  with  a  view  to  promote  the 
peace  of  the  church,  and  to  secure  the  permanent  settlement  of  the 
Gospel  ministry  among  them.  And  further,  that  it  be  recommended  to 
the  persons  so  elected  not  to  accept  the  office  unless  they  shall  obtain  the 


54  IT. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

suffrages  of  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  electors  participating  in  the  elec 
tion."— Minutes,  1834,  p.  453. 

7.  A  Ruling  Elder  without  Office  lias  no  Seat  in  a  Church  Court. 

"  Resolved,  That  no  Ruling  Elder  who  has  retired  from  the  active 
exercise  of  his  office  in  the  church  to  which  he  belongs,  can  be  admit 
ted  as  a  member  of  a  Presbytery,  Synod,  or  General  Assembly." — 
Minutes,  1835,  p.  489. 

8.  An  Elder  cannot  hold  Office  in  two  Churches  at  the  same  time. 

a.  "The  Judicial  Committee  reported  that,  by  permission  of  the  Assem 
bly,  a  complaint  was  presented  to  them  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ashbel  Green, 
in  behalf  of  a  minority,  against  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,* 
recorded  on  the  Synod  book,  page  168,  by  which  complaint  the  following 
question  is  presented  for  the  decision  of  the  Assembly,  viz.  : 

"  Is  it  consistent  with  the  Constitution  of  this  Church  for  the  same 
individual  to  hold  the  office  of  Ruling  Elder  in  two  different  churches 
at  the  same  time  ? 

"  The  complainants  were  heard  in  support  of  their  complaint ;  the 
Synod  was  heard  in  defence  of  their  decision,  and  the  complainants  con 
cluded  with  a  reply : 

"  When  it  was  resolved  by  the  Assembly,  that  the  decision  of  the 
Synod  be  affirmed,  and  the  complaint  dismissed/' — Minutes,  1827,  p. 
204. 

Nor  Adjudicate  in  a  Church  of  which  he  is  not  an  Elder. 

I.  "  Overture  No.  14,  viz.,  the  following  question  from,  the  Presby 
tery  of  Salem :  'Has  a  Ruling  Elder  in  any  case  a  legal  right  to  adju 
dicate  in  another  church  than  that  of  which  he  is  an  Elder  V  was  taken 
up  and  decided  in  the  negative." — Minutes,  1831,  p.  324. 

9.   Elders  Censured  for  leaving  without  Permission,  and  Sessions 
directed  to  defray  Expenses. 

a.  "  Upon  calling  the  roll,  it  being  found  that  many  of  the  Elders 
have  gone  home  without  leaving  any  reason  for  their  doing  so,  the  Synod 

*  The  Synod  having  rejected  a  resolution  declaring  it  lawful  for  an  elder  to  exer 
cise  the  office  in  two  different  congregations. 


II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  55 

do  order  that  sucli  Elders  as  do  withdraw  from  the  Synod  without  leave, 
shall  be  left  to  the  censure  of  their  Sessions,  and  report  made  thereof  to 
the  next  Synod.  And  the  Synod  do  recommend  it  to  the  several  con 
gregations  to  defray  the  necessary  charges  that  their  Elders  be  at  during 
their  attendance  upon  the  Synod." — Minutes,  1735,  p.  117. 

I.  Whereas,  the  Synod  is  deeply  affected  that  the  judicatures  of  the 
Church  are  so  exceedingly  neglected,  both  by  ministers  and  elders,  es 
pecially  the  latter,  and  taking  this  matter  into  serious  consideration,  and 
apprehending  that  one  reason  of  this  non-attendance,  particularly  on  the 
sessions  of  Synod,  arises  from  the  congregations  making  no  provision 
for  defraying  the  expenses  of  ministers  and  elders,  do  therefore  request 
the  Presbyteries  to  direct  their  members  to  recommend  it  to  their 
respective  congregations  to  make  contributions  for  this  purpose ;  and  the 
Synod  do  further  request  that  the  Presbyteries  take  every  proper  mea 
sure  to  excite  their  members  to  attend  upon  this  judicature. — Minutes, 
1781,  p.  491. 

10.  Elders  have  the  same  Right  to  sit  in  Synod  as  in  Presbytery. 

The  committee  also  overtured  this  question  :  Has  an  elder,  whom 
the  discipline  of  our  Church  authorizes  to  sit  as  a  member  in  Presbytery 
from  a  vacant  congregation,  or  united  congregations,  a  right  by  that  dis 
cipline  to  sit  in  Synod  as  a  representative  of  such  congregation  or  con 
gregations  ? 

The  vote  being  taken,  the  question  was  determined  in  the  affirmative. 
—Minutes,  1808,  p.  403. 

11.  Every  Church,  having  a  Stated  Supply,  is  entitled  to  le  represented 
in  Presbytery  or  Synod  l>y  a  Ruling  Elder. 

The  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures  reported  Overture  No.  2,  from 
the  Synod  of  West  Pennsylvania,  "On  Stated  Supplies  and  Vacant 
Congregations,"  in  the  form  following : 

"  When  a  minister  is  at  the  same  time  pastor  of  one  church,  and  acts 
as  the  stated  supply  of  another  church,  has  each  of  said  churches  a  right 
to  be  represented  by  its  own  elder  at  the  same  meeting  of  Presbytery  or 
Synod  ?  Or  does  this  case  come  under  the  rule,  chap,  x,  sec.  4,  p.  368, 
of  Form  of  Government  ?"  They  recommend  that  the  following  answer 
be  returned,  viz. :  "  That  churches,  having  stated  supplies  only,  are  not 
such  churches  as  are  contemplated  in  the  article  referred  to,  and  have  a 


56  II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

right  of  representation  according  to  the  principles  of  the  Form  of  Go 
vernment,  chap,  x,  sec.  5." 

The  report  was  adopted. — Minutes,  1851,  p.  15. 

12.  A.  Minister,  with  one  Elder,  may  form  a  Session,  if  there  be  but 

one  Elder. 

The  question,  "  Can  a  minister,  with  one  elder,  form  a  Session  capa 
ble  of  transacting  judicial  business  T'  is  sufficiently  answered  in  the 
Constitution,  Form  of  Government,  chap,  ix,  sec.  2,  where  it  seems  to 
be  implied  that  cases  may  occur  with  infant  or  feeble  churches  in  which 
it  would  be  impracticable,  for  a  time,  to  have  more  than  one  elder,  and 
yet  be  necessary  to  perform  acts  of  a  judicial  character.  For  such  the 
Constitution  provides ;  but  if  there  be  more  than  one  elder,  then  two  at 
least,  with  a  minister,  are  necessary  to  form  a  Session. — Minutes,  1836, 
p.  263. 

13.  When  an  Elder  has  been  suspended  from  CJiurch  privileges  and 

restored,  he  is  not  thereby  restored  to  Office. 

"  When  an  elder  has  been  suspended  from  Church  privileges,  for  an 
offence,  and  again  restored  to  the  privileges  of  the  Church,  is  he  also 
restored  to  his  office  as  a  ruling  elder?"  should  be  answered  in  the 
negative.  The  two  things  are  distinct ;  and  since  an  elder,  as  well  as  a 
minister,  may  be  suspended  from  his  office,  and  not  from  the  communion 
of  the  Church,  so  there  may  be  reasons  for  continuing  his  suspension 
from  his  office  after  he  is  restored  to  the  privileges  of  the  Church.  He 
cannot  be  restored  to  the  functions  of  his  office  without  a  special  and 
express  act  of  the  Session  for  that  purpose,  with  the  acquiescence  of  the 
church.— Minutes,  1836,  p.  263. 

14.  Elders  not  to  Participate  in  the  Ordination  of  Ministers  by  the 

laying  on  of  Hands. 

The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church  reported  an  answer  to  the 
inquiry,  "  Ought  the  eldership  'to  participate  in  the  ordination  of  minis 
ters  by  laying  on  of  hands?"  as  follows  : 

It  is  a  recognized  principle  of  our  Church  polity,  in  accordance  as  we 
believe,  with  Apostolic  teaching,  that  bishops,  ministers,  and  elders, 
constitute  but  one  grade  or  rank  of  officers  in  the  Christian  Church ; 


II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  57 

and  hence  that  in  all  our  Church  judicatories  they  have  equal  rights 
and  powers.  In  all  the  judicial  business  of  the  Church,  all  are  Pres 
byters  alike.  (See  Form  of  Gov.,  chap,  ix,  sees.  1,  2,4;  chap,  x, 
sees.  .2  to  7;  chap,  xi,  sees.  1,  2;  and  chap,  xii,  sec.  2.)  Still  it  can 
not  be  denied  that  in  the  Bible  a  distinction  is  recognized  between  those 
Presbyters  who  rule  only,  and  those  who  both  rule  and  preach.  In  the 
practice  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  all  its  branches,  this  distinction 
has  become  very  marked.  Some  are  set  apart  expressly  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  and  to  administer  the  ordinances  of  God's  house.  They  are 
Presbyters  in  common  with  others;  but  as  ministers  of  Christ,  they  have 
functions  and  rights  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  are  required  to  possess 
peculiar  qualifications.  In  the  ordination  of  ministers,  your  committee 
believe  there  are  two  distinct  things  to  be  done :  1st.  The  examination 
and  approval  of  the  candidate.  In  this  all  the  members  of  the  Presby 
tery  participate  alike ;  and  2d.  The  formal  act  of  induction  into  office, 
in  which,  by  almost  universal  consent,  as  we  suppose,  only  ministers 
officiate.  It  is  true  our  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xv,  sec.  14,  speaks 
of  the  whole  Presbytery  as  laying  on  hands,  and  giving  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship.  But  every  statute  should  be  construed  consistently  with 
itself,  and  with  general  usage  under  the  statute.  Your  committee 
would  suggest,  that  the  act  of  induction  is  ministerial,  not  judicial. 
And,  as  in  respect  to  baptism,  the  elders,  jointly  with  the  pastor,  deter 
mine  who  shall  be  admitted  to  this  ordinance;  yet  the  pastor  only 
administers  it;  so  in  ordination — the  whole  Presbytery  determine  the 
fitness  of  the  candidate,  but  only  the  ministers  present  induct  into  office. 
This,  we  believe,  has  been  the  universal  practice  under  this  rule ;  and 
that  this  usage  was  intended  by  the  framers  of  the  book  seems  probable 
from  the  fact  that,  in  the  form  of  induction,  those  aiding  in  the  service 
are  directed  to  extend  to  the  new  minister  their  right  hands,  saying, 
"  We  give  you  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  take  part  of  this  ministry 
with  us."  This  language  manifestly  implies,  that  those  thus  welcoming 
him  do  themselves  occupy  places  in  that  ministry  to  which  they  welcome 
him.  The  committee  therefore  recommend,  that  the  question  be  an 
swered  in  the  negative.  The  report  was  adopted. — Minutes,  1860,  p. 
243. 

SECTION  3. — PASTORS. 

1.  Mode  of  proceeding  to  elect  a  Pastor.— The  Session  to  judge  of  the  readiness 
of  the  Congregation  to  elect. — To  procure  a  settlement  as  speedily  as  possible. 


58  II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

If  remiss  after  being  requested,  a  complaint  to  Presbytery  will  lie. — The 
Presbytery  lias  full  cognizance  of  the  proceedings  to  avoid  undue  delay  or  haste. 
— 2.  Electors.  None  may  vote  for  a  Pastor  but  those  who  contribute  to  his  sup 
port;  and  a  major  vote  determines. — 3.  Case  of  a  Pastorate  by  prescription. — 
4.  Dissolution  of  the  Pastoral  relation;  mode  of  proceeding. —  5.  To  remove 
without  consent  of  Presbytery,  censurable. — G.  Pastoral  faithfulness  enjoined,  in 
visiting  and  in  lecturing. — 7.  Catechetical  instruction  enjoined. — S.  Stated  sup 
plies  have  no  Pastoral  relation. 


1.    Order  of  Proceeding  in  the  Election  of  a  Pastor. 

u  The  business  left  unfinished  in  the  morning  was  resumed,  and,  after 
a  full  discussion  of  the  subject,  the  motion  to  sustain  the  appeal  of  the 
Session  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  city  from  the  decision 
of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  affirming  a  decision  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Philadelphia,  by  which  the  Presbytery  directed  the  said  Session,  within 
twenty  days  from  the  date  of  their  decision,  or  after  the  final  determi 
nation  of  the  case,  to  convene  the  congregation  for  the  purpose  of  elect 
ing  a  Pastor,  was  determined  in  the  affirmative;  and  Dr.  Green,  Dr. 
Neill,  and  Mr.  Richards  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  minute, 
stating  the  principles  on  which  the  Assembly  sustained  the  appeal. 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  statement  of  the  principles 
and  grounds  upon  which  the  Assembly  sustained  the  appeal  of  the  Ses 
sion  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  city  reported,  and  their 
report  being  read  'and  amended,  was  adopted  in  the  words  following, 
viz.  : 

"That  both  to  prevent  misapprehension  and  to  aid  the  congregations 
and  judicatures  of  this  Church  in  deciding  on  any  similar  cases  that 
may  arise,  the  Assembly  therefore  declare, — 

"  I.  That  in  vacant  congregations  which  are  fully  organized,  the  Ses 
sion  of  each  Congregation  are  to  determine,  under  their  responsibility  to 
the  higher  judicatures,  when  the  Congregation  are  prepared  to  elect  a 
Pastor,  as  directed  in  the  Form  of  Government  of  this  Church,  chap, 
xiv,  sec.  1. 

t{  II.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Session  when  a  Congregation  is  vacant, 
to  use  their  best  endeavors  to  promote  the  settlement  of  a  Pastor  in  the 
same,  in  the  speediest  manner  possible,  consistently  with  the  peace,  order, 
and  edification  of  the  Congregation;  and  it  is  the  privilege  of  the 
people,  or  of  any  portion  of  them,  to  complain  to  the  Presbytery  when 


II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  59 

they  think  that  the  Session,  after  being  suitably  requested,  neglect,  or 
refuse  to  convene  the  Congregation  to  elect  a  Pastor. 

"  III.  That  it  belongs  to  the  Presbyteries  to  take  cognizance  of  the 
proceedings  of  Sessions  and  Congregations  in  the  important  concern  of 
settling  Pastors,  and  to  adopt  the  most  effectual  measures  on  the  one 
hand  to  prevent  all  undue  delay  by  the  Session,  or  the  people,  and  on 
the  other,  to  prevent  all  precipitancy  in  the  settlement  of  any  Minister, 
or  the  adoption  of  any  system  of  proceedings  in  the  Congregation  incon 
sistent  with  the  real  and  permanent  edification  of  the  people. 

"  IV.  That  by  the  due  and  discreet  observance  of  these  principles  by 
all  concerned,  it  will  be  found,  that  so  far  from  the  Session  of  a  Congre 
gation  having  it  in  their  power  to  deprive  a  majority  of  a  Congregation 
of  their  right  to  make  an  election  of  a  Pastor,  when  sought  in  an  orderly 
and  Christian  manner,  or  to  keep  a  Congregation  unsettled  for  an  inde 
finite  length  of  time,  the  rights  of  the  people  will  be  most  effectually 
secured,  and  their  precious  and  inalienable  privilege  of  choosing  their 
own  Pastor  will  be  exercised  by  them  in  the  shortest  period  which  their 
own  real  benefit  will  permit. 

"  V.  That  the  conviction  of  this  Assembly,  that  the  foregoing  ob 
vious  and  constitutional  principles  had  not  been  duly  adhered  to  in  the 
case  before  them ;  that  the  Congregation  had  not  proceeded  with  a  suit 
able  respect  to  the  Session,  and  that  the  Presbytery  did  not  adopt  the 
most  suitable  measure  when  they  advised  and  directed  the  Session  to 
convene  the  Congregation  in  twenty  days,  has  led  the  Assembly  to  sus 
tain  this  appeal  as  the  measure  most  constitutional,  best  calculated  on 
the  whole  to  do  justice  to  all  the  parties  concerned,  and  to  point  the  way 
to  the  most  speedy  settlement  of  the  unhappy  differences  and  disorders 
which  have  so  long  existed  in  the  particular  Congregation  immediately 
concerned." — Minutes,  1814,  p.  559-560. 

2.  Who  may  Vote  in  the  Election  of  a  Pastor. 

"  Agreed,  that  none  shall  be  allowed  to  vote  for  the  calling  of  a  Mi 
nister,  but  those  that  shall  contribute  for  the  maintenance  of  him,  and 
that  the  major  vote  of  these  shall  be  determinative." — Minutes,  1711, 
p.  24. 

"  In  this  election  no  person  shall  be  entitled  to  vote,  who  refuses  to 
submit  to  the  censures  of  the  Church  regularly  administered ;  or  who 
does  not  contribute  his  just  proportion,  according  to  his  own  engage- 


60  II. — OFFICERS    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

ments,  or  the  rules  of  that  Congregation,  to  its  necessary  expenses." — 
Form  of  Government,  chap,  xv,  sec.  4. 

3.  A  Pastoral  Relation  allowed  where  no  Instalment  had  occurred. 

"  It  appears  evident  to  this  Synod,  that  Mr.  Tennent  having  in  all 
respects  acted,  and  been  esteemed  and  looked  upon,  not  only  by  this 
Synod,  but  also  by  the  Congregation  of  Neshaminy,  and  particularly  by 
the  appellants  themselves,  as  the  Minister  and  Pastor  of  the  people  of 
Neshaminy,  that  he  is  still  to  be  esteemed  as  the  Pastor  of  that  people, 
notwithstanding  the  want  of  a  formal  instalment  among  them ;  which 
omission,  though  the  Synod  doth  not  justify,  yet  it  is  far  from  nullifying 
the  pastoral  relation  between  Mr.  Tennent  and  said  people." — Minutes, 
1736,  p.  127. 

4.    The  Translation  of  a  Pastor. 

a.  Amendment  to  chap,  xvi,  sec.  2,  of  Form  of  Government.     Strike 
out  together  with  a  written  citation  to  him,  and  insert  if  the  parties  be 
not  prepared  to  have  the  matter  issued  at  that  Presbytery,  a  written 
citation  shall  be  given  to  the  Minister. — Minutes,  1804,  p.  305. 

Note  by  the  Assembly.  "  This  amendment  [adopted  1805,  p.  333], 
is  intended  to  provide  that  consent  of  parties  shall  shorten  the  constitu 
tional  process  for  translating  a  Minister." — Minutes,  1804,  foot  of  p.  305. 

b.  The  committee  on  overture,  viz. :  "  Is  it  contrary  to  chap,  xvii 
of  the  Form  of  Government  for  a  Presbytery  to  dissolve  the  connection 
between  a  Minister  and  his  congregation  at  the  time  when  he  presents 
his  request  for  its  dissolution,  and  the  congregation  joins  issue  by  com 
missioners  duly  appointed  for  that  purpose  ?"  made  the  following  report, 
which  was  adopted,  viz. : 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  not  expedient  for  this  Assembly  to  give  a  de 
cided  answer  to  the  question,  but  to  leave  every  Presbytery  to  act  accord 
ing  to  their  own  discretion  in  the  premises." — Minutes,  1832,  p.  373. 

5.  Removal  without  Consent  of  Presbytery  censurable. 

a.  "  The  Presbytery  of  East  Jersey  having  reported  that  Mr.  John 
Cross  has,  without  the  concurrence  of  Presbytery,  removed  from  one 
congregation  to  another,  the  Synod  do  declare  that  the  conduct  of  such 
Ministers  that  do  neglect  attendance  upon  the  meetings  of  the  Presby- 


II. OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  61 

tery  without  necessity,  or  that  take  charge  of  any  congregation  without 
the  Presbytery's  concurrence,  to  be  disorderly,  and  justly  worthy  of 
Presbyterial  censure,  and  do  admonish  said  Mr.  Cross  to  be  no  further 
chargeable  with  such  irregularities  for  the  future." — Minutes,  1735,  p. 
115. 

It.  "The  Synod  having  deliberately  considered  the  affair  of  Mr.  Ali 
son's  removal  to  Philadelphia,  judge  that  the  method  he  used  is  con 
trary  to  the  Presbyterian  plan.  Yet  considering  that  the  circumstances 
which  urged  him  to  take  the  method  he  used  were  very  pressing,  and 
that  it  was  indeed  almost  impracticable  to  him  to  apply  for  the  consent 
of  Presbytery  or  Synod,  in  the  orderly  way,  and  further,  being  persuaded 
that  Mr.  Alison's  being  employed  in  such  a  station  in  the  Academy,  has 
a  favorable  aspect  in  several  respects,  and  a  very  probable  tendency  not 
only  to  promote  the  good  of  the  public,  but  also  of  the  Church ;  as  he 
may  be  serviceable  to  the  interests  thereof  in  teaching  philosophy  and 
divinity,  as  far  as  his  obligations  to  the  Academy  will  permit,  we  judge 
that  his  proceedings  in  said  affair  are  in  a  great  measure  excusable. 
Withal  the  Synod  advises,  that  for  the  future  its  members  be  very  cau 
tious,  and  guard  against  such  proceedings  as  are  contrary  to  our  known 
approved  methods  in  such  cases." — Minutes,  1752,  p.  206. 


6.  Pastoral  Faithfulness  enjoined  in  Visiting  and  Lecturing. 

a.  Upon  an  overture  to  Synod,  in  pursuance  of  an  order  of  the  com 
mittee  to  that  purpose,  viz.,  to  use  some  proper  means  to  revive  the  de 
clining  power  of  godliness,  the  Synod  do  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all 
our  ministers  and  members,  to  take  particular  care  about  ministerial  visit 
ing  of  families,  and  press  family  and  secret  worship,  according  to  the 
Westminster  Directory,  and  that  they  also  recommend  it  to  every  Pres 
bytery  at  proper  seasons  to  inquire  concerning  the  diligence  of  each  of 
their  members  in  such  particulars. — Minutes.  1733,  p.  105. 

b.  "  That  in  the  discharge  of  pastoral  duties  they  take  the  utmost 
care  that  the  word  of  God  be  known  and  understood  by  the  people,  and 
that  for  this  purpose,  in  their  public  instructions,  the  practice  of  lectur 
ing  on  certain  portions  of  Holy  Scripture  be  not  laid  aside,  but  rather 
revived  and  increased;  that  they  endeavor,  where  it  is  prudent  and 
practicable,  to  institute  private  societies  for  reading,  prayer,  and  pious 
conversation;  above  all,  that  they  be  faithful  in  the  duties  of  family  visita- 


62  II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

tion  and  catechetical  instruction  of  children  and  youth." — Minutes, 
1799,  p.  182. 

7.    Catechetical  Instruction  enjoined. 

The  following  resolutions  on  the  subject  of  catechetical  instruction 
were  unanimously  adopted,  viz.  : 

"1.  Resolved,  That  this  General  Assembly  consider  the  practice  of 
catechetical  instruction  as  well  adapted  to  the  prosperity  and  purity  of 
our  Zion. 

"2.  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  view  also  with  deep  regret  the 
neglect,  on  the  part  of  many  of  our  churches,  of  this  good  old  practice 
of  our  fathers ;  a  practice  which  has  been  attended  with  such  blessed 
results  to  the  cause  of  pure  and  undefiled  religion. 

"3.  Resolved,  That  the  institution  of  Sabbath  Schools  does  not  exo 
nerate  ministers  and  parents  from  the  duty  of  teaching  the  Shorter  Cate 
chism  to  the  children  of  the  Church. 

"  4.  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  earnestly  and  affectionately  recom 
mend  to  all  the  Ministers  and  Killing  Elders  in  its  connection  to  teach 
diligently  the  young  of  their  respective  congregations  the  Assembly's 
Shorter  Catechism." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  181. 

8.   Stated  Supplies  have  no  Pastoral  Relation. 

a.  The  committee  on  Overture  No.  9,  viz.,  a  memorial  from  East  Hano 
ver  Presbytery  on  inefficiency  in  the  ministry,  made  the  following  report, 
which  was  adopted,  viz. :  ....  3.  That  it  be  enjoined  on  all  the  Pres 
byteries  to  take  such  measures  as  they  may  deem  expedient  for  forming 
the  pastoral  relation,  in  a  regular  manner,  in  all  cases  where  churches 
are  now  served  by  stated  supplies,  unless  there  be  special  reasons  to  the 
contrary,  of  which  reasons  the  Presbytery  is  required  to  judge,  and  to 
make  their  judgment  matter  of  record  on  their  minutes. — Minutes,  1834, 
p.  450. 

b.  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  complaint  of  the  minority 
of  the  Session  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  Orleans,  re 
ported  the  following  minute,  which  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

Resolved,  That  as  Mr.  Clapp  was  merely  a  stated  supply  of  the  church 
in  New  Orleans,  the  Presbytery  of  Mississippi  had  a  right,  and  it  was 


II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  63 

their  duty,  under  existing  circumstances,  to  adopt  measures  to  detach 
him  from  said  congregation. — Minutes,  183 1,  p.  340. 

c.  Churches  having  stated  supplies  only  are  not  such  churches  as  are 
contemplated  in  chap,  x,  sec.  4,  Form  of  Government,  and  have  a  right 
of  representation  according  to  the  principles  of  the  Form  of  Government, 
chap,  x,  sec.  5. — Minutes,  1851,  p.  15. 

d.  "  The  pastoral  office  should  be  more  and  more  highly  appreciated, 
practically  honored,  and  mainly  promoted,  in  all  our  judicatories  and 
churches,  as  the  ordinary,  the  permanent,  and  the  incomparable  way  of 
the  Lord,  in  promoting  his  own  cause,  and  in  educating  his  people  for 
Heaven."— Minutes,  1840,  p.  17. 


SECTION  4. — MINISTERS  WITHOUT  CHARGE. 

1.  Ministers  without  charge  have  a  right  to  sit  in  Church  Courts. — 2.  A  minister 
cannot  cease  to  be  such  but  by  deposition ;  but  if  providentially  incapacitated, 
he  is  still  held  to  possess  the  ministerial  character  and  privileges,  and  is  under 
the  inspection  of  his  Presbytery.  If,  through  a  worldly  spirit,  or  any  other 
criminal  motive,  he  lay  aside  his  office,  Presbytery  is  to  endeavor  to  bring  him 
to  duty ;  and  failing  of  this,  at  length  to  exclude  him  from  office.  When  minis 
ters  have  withdrawn  wholly  or  in  part  from  the  work  of  the  ministry,  Presbytery 
is  to  require  and  record  the  reasons,  with  its  approbation  or  disapprobation. — 3. 
Demission  of  the  ministry  allowed  in  the  case  of  Robert  Laing;  also  of  Wm. 
Woodhull.  Case  of  Joseph  Montgomery,  leave  refused  by  the  Assembly. — 4. 
On  holding  civil  office;  deliverance  upon  the  subject. — 5.  Office  of  chaplain  in 
the  army  allowed. — 6.  An  ordination  to  a  chaplaincy  is  not  sine  titulo. — 7.  A 
chaplain  may  not  at  the  same  time  be  pastor  of  a  church. — 8.  Office  of  chaplain 
in  the  navy  approved  of. 

1.  Have  a  Seat  in  Church  Courts. 

a.  The  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  overture  from  the  Pres 
bytery  of  Baltimore,  in  the  following  words,  viz.,  "  Are  ministers  with 
out  charges  constituent  members  of  our  Church  judicatures,  and  have 
they  an  equal  voice  with  settled  pastors  and  ruling  elders  of  congregations 
in  ecclesiastical  governments  ?"  reported,  and  their  report  being  read 
and  amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  In  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  this  question  is  answered  affirma 
tively,  chap.  ix;  sec.  2,  of  the  Form  of  Government  of  the  Presbyterian 


64  II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

Church,  in  these  words  :  '  A  Presbytery  consists  of  all  the  ministers  and 
one  ruling  elder  from  each  congregation  within  a  certain  district.' " — 
Minutes,  1816,  p.  615. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  Overture  No.  9,  relative  to  the 
right  of  ministers  without  charge  to  a  seat  in  our  judicatories,  made 
their  report,  which,  after  some  discussion,  was  referred  to  a  committee 
consisting  of  Dr.  Blythe,  Dr.  Hoge,  Mr.  Montfort,  Mr.  Elliot,  and  Mr. 
A.  0.  Patterson,  to  take  the  subject  into  consideration,  and  report  to 
the  next  General  Assembly. — Minutes,  1835,  p.  492. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  the  rights  of  ministers  without  charges 
to  a  seat  in  the  judicatories  of  the  Church,  was  taken  up,  and  indefi 
nitely  postponed. — Minutes,  1836,  p.  294. 

2.  Who   Withdraw  from  the  Discharge  of  the  Duties  of  the  Ministry, 
how  regarded  and  dealt  with. 

By  a  report  of  the  Presbytery  of  Lewes,  it  appeared  that  a  minister, 
heretofore  a  member  of  that  Presbytery,  had  been  declared  to  be  no 
longer  a  member  thereof,  and,  as  the  Assembly  were  informed,  is  con 
sidered  by  them  as  divested  of  the  ministerial  office,  and  this  without 
deposition,  suspension,  or  censure ;  wherefore — 

Resolved,  That  it  is  a  principle  of  this  Church,  that  no  minister  of 
the  Gospel  can  be  regularly  divested  of  his  office,  except  by  a  course  of 
discipline,  terminating  in  his  deposition. 

That  if  any  minister,  by  providential  circumstances,  become  incapa 
ble  of  exercising  his  ministerial  functions,  or  is  called  to  suspend  them, 
or  to  exercise  them  only  occasionally,  he  is  still  to  be  considered  as  pos 
sessing  the  ministerial  character  and  privileges;  and  his  brethren  of  the 
Presbytery  are  to  inspect  his  conduct;  and  while  they  treat  him  with 
due  tenderness  and  sympathy,  they  are  to  be  careful  that  he  do  not 
neglect  his  ministerial  duty  beyond  what  his  circumstances  render  un 
avoidable. 

That  if  any  minister  of  the  Gospel,  through  a  worldly  spirit,  a  dis 
relish  for  the  duties  of  his  office,  or  any  other  criminal  motive,  become 
negligent  or  careless,  he  is  by  no  means  to  be  suffered  to  pursue  this 
course,  so  as  at  length  to  be  permitted  to  lay  aside  the  ministry,  without 
censure ;  because  this  would  be  to  encourage  a  disregard  of  the  most 
solemn  obligations,  by  opening  a  way  to  escape  from  them  with  impunity. 

But  in  all  such  cases,  Presbyteries  are  seasonably  to  use  the  means 


II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  65 

and  pursue  the  methods  pointed  out  in  the  word  of  God  and  the  rules 
of  this  Church,  to  recall  their  offending  brother  to  a  sense  of  duty;  and 
if  all  their  endeavors  be  ineffectual,  they  are  at  length  regularly  to  ex 
clude  or  depose  him  from  his  office. 

If  any  cases  or  questions,  relative  to  this  subject,  arise  in  Presbyteries, 
which  are  not  contemplated  by  the  provisions  of  this  rule,  such  cases  or 
questions  should  be  referred  to  the  General  Assembly  for  a  special 
decision.— Minutes,  1802,  pp.  258,  259. 

Resolved,  That  when  ministers  have  withdrawn,  or  may  hereafter 
withdraw,  wholly  or  in  part,  from  the  work  of  the  ministry,  it  be  en 
joined  upon  the  Presbyteries  to  which  they  belong  to  require  of  such 
ministers  their  reasons  for  so  doing;  which  reasons  are  to  be  put  upon 
record  by  the  Presbytery,  with  an  expression  of  their  approbation  or  dis 
approbation  of  the  same. — Minutes,  1834,  p.  450. 

Resolved,  That  the  constitutional  remedy  of  these  evils  is  in  the  {lands 
of  the  Presbyteries,  to  whom  it  belongs  to  ordain,  instal,  remove,  and 
judge  ministers  (see  Form  of  Government,  chap,  x,  sec.  8),  and  whose 
duty  it  is  to  inspect  the  fidelity  of  those  whom  they  have  solemnly  set 
apart  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  by  the  imposition  of  hands. — Minutes, 
1834,  p.  450. 

3.  Allowed  to  demit  the  exercise  of  the  Ministry,  for  cause  assigned. 

a.  There  being  from  time  to  time  complaints  of  the  weakness  and 
deficiency  of  Mr.  Robert  Laing,  rendering  his  exercise  of  the  ministerial 
function  a  detriment  to  the  interest  of  religion,  and  rather  a  scandal 
than  a  help  to  the  Gospel;  the  Synod  advised  him  to  demit  the  whole* 
exercise  of  the  ministry,  and  not  to  take  it  up  again,  but  by  the  appro 
bation  of  at  least  three  ministers  of  the  Presbytery  wbere-in  he  may 
reside.  The  said  Mr.  Laing  did  quietly  and  humbly  acquiesce  in  the 
aforesaid  advice. — Minutes,  1726,  p.  84. 

1).  "  The  Presbytery  of  New  York  report,  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  William 
"Woodhull,  one  of  their  members,  appeared  before  them  at  their  last- 
meeting,  and  stated  to  them  his  situation,  as  being  still  incapable  of  ex 
ercising  his  ministry  by  his  continued  indisposition,  and  the  little  or 
rather  no  probability  of  his  ever  being  able  to  attempt  the  exercise  of  it 
in  future ;  and  that  he  was  at  the  same  time  engaged,  in  certain  secular 
employments  that  would  seem  to  render  it  improper  to  have  his  name 
in  their  records  as  a  member,  while  he  is  incapable  of  attending  their 

5 


66  II. — OFFICERS    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

meetings  or  discharging  any  of  the  great  duties  of  his  ministry  j  and 
therefore  submits  to  them  the  propriety  of  their  continuing  and  consider 
ing  him  as  a  member  from  time  to  time ;  and  that  the  Presbytery,  on 
considering  his  situation,  thought  it  best  to  leave  his  name  out  of  their 
records  in  future,  till  he  shall  be  able  to  return  to  the  exercise  of  his 
ministry  •  an  event  that  would  give  them  great  pleasure. 

"The  Synod  considered  the  above  report,  and  are  of  opinion  that 
Mr.  Woodhull  ought  to  be  continued  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of 
New  York,  and  therefore  direct  that  Presbytery  to  insert  his  name  in 
their  roll."— Minutes,  1783,  p.  497,  498. 

c.  [The  Presbytery  of  New  Castle  reported],  "  that  in  consequence  of 
Mr.  Joseph  Montgomery's  having  informed  them  that,  through  bodily 
indisposition,  he  was  incapable  of  officiating  in  the  ministry,  and  having 
also  accepted  an  office  under  the  civil  authority,  they  have  left  his  name 
out  of  their  records." 

"  The  Synod  disapprove  of  the  conduct  of  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Castle,  in  striking  the  name  of  Mr.  Montgomery  off  their  roll,  for  the 
reasons  given  in  their  report,  neither  of  which,  nor  both  together,  seem 
to  be  sufficient ;  and  in  future  recommend  to  all  Presbyteries,  when  any 
ministers  under  their  inspection  resign  their  charge,  or  discontinue  the 
exercise  of  their  office  while  they  remain  in  the  same  bounds,  to  pass 
a  regular  judgment  on  the  reasons  given  for  such  conduct;  and 
continue  their  inspection  of  those  who  shall  not  have  deserved  to  be 
deprived  of  the  ministerial  character,  though  they  may  be  laid  aside 
from  immediate  usefulness.'7 — Minutes,  1785,  pp.  507,  510. 

d.  [The  Committee  on  Church  Polity  reported  Overture  No.  4,  from 
the  Presbytery  of  Portage,  asking  advice  as  to  the  case  of  a  minister, 
"who,  though  charged  with  no  disciplinable  offence,  had  forsaken  the 
ministry  for  ten  or  more  years,  had  regularly  and  permanently  engaged 
in  secular  employment,  had  become  a  private  member  of  the  Church, 
and  had  no  design  of  again  acting  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  who 
on  this  ground  had  requested  his  Presbytery  to  strike  his  name  from  the 
roll  of  members." 

The  committee  recommended,  a  that  the  Presbytery  be  directed  to 
-strike  his  namfe  from  the  roll,  without  implying  any  censure  or  any  im 
putation  on  his  Christian  character/'] 

"  The  action  recommended  by  the  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the 
Church  was  not  adopted." — Minutes,  1852,  p.  177. 

.e.  "  The  Assembly  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  report  of  the 


II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.  67 

special  committee  [Edwin  F.  Hatfield,  D.D.,  Henry  B.  Smith,  D.D., 
and  Walter  S.  Griffith,  Esq.]  on  the  Demission  of  the  Ministry.  After 
considerable  discussion,  the  report  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"The  committee  to  whom  was  referred,  by  the  last  General  Assem 
bly,  an  Overture  from  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  Third,  on  the 
1  Voluntary  Demission  of  the  Ministry,'  respectfully  submit  the  follow 
ing  report : 

"  The  Constitution  of  our  Church,  it  is  well  known,  provides  for  the 
deposition  of  the  unworthy,  by  due  process  of  discipline;  but  seems 
not  to  have  anticipated  that  any  other  class  would  require  to  be  sepa 
rated  from  the  responsibilities  of  an  office  so  high  and  so  sacred.  It 
nowhere  contemplates  the  dismission  of  the  members  of  the  Church  to 
the  world,  nor  the  return  of  the  ministry,  at  their  own  instance,  to  the 
mere  secularities  of  every-day  life. 

"  Such  is  the  view  that  has  been  taken  of  our  standards  from  the  be 
ginning.  Neither  the  old  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  nor 
any  of  our  General  Assemblies,  has  ventured  to  give  any  different  inter 
pretation.  The  Assembly  of  1802,  on  the  occasion  of  the  exercise,  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Lewes,  of  the  prerogative  of  divesting  one  of  their 
ministers  of  his  office,  without  deposition,  suspension,  or  censure,  passed 
the  following  resolution: 

Ui  Resolved  j  That  it  is  a  principle  of  this  Church,  that  no  minister 
of  the  Gospel  can  be  regularly  divested  of  his  office  except  by  a  course 
of  discipline  terminating  in  his  deposition.  That,  if  any  minister,  by 
providential  circumstances,  become  incapable  of  exercising  his  ministe 
rial  functions,  or  is  called  to  suspend  them,  or  to  exercise  them  only 
occasionally,  he  is  still  to  be  considered  as  possessing  the  ministerial 
character  and  privileges ;  and  his  brethren  of  the  Presbytery  are  to  in 
spect  his  conduct ;  and,  while  they  treat  him  with  due  tenderness  and 
sympathy,  they  are  to  be  careful  that  he  do  not  neglect  his  ministerial 
duties  beyond  what  his  circumstances  render  unavoidable.' 

"The  office  is  to  be  retained;  but,  for  sufficient  reason,  the  exercise 
of  the  office  may  be  discontinued  in  whole  or  in  part.  Such  was  the 
judgment  of  the  Synod  of  1726,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Robert  Laing,  who, 
by  reason  of  the  complaints  of  his  '  weakness  and  deficiency/  brought 
against  him,  l  rendering  his  exercise  of  the  ministerial  function  a  detri 
ment  to  the  interests  of  religion,  and  rather  a  scandal  than  a  help  to  the 
Gospel/  '  advised  him  to  demit  the  whole  exercise  of  the  ministry,  and 


68  II. — OFFICERS    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

not  to  take  it  up  again,  but  by  the  approbation  of  at  least  three  minis 
ters  of  the  Presbytery  wherein  he  may  reside.' 

"  Similar  was  the  judgment  of  the  Synod  of  1783,  in  the  case  of  Mr. 
William  Woodhull,  who  had  represented  to  the  Presbytery  of  New  York, 
of  which  he  was  a  member,  (  his  situation  as  being  still  incapable  of  ex 
ercising  his  ministry  by  his  continued  indisposition ;  and  the  little,  or 
rather  no,  probability  of  his  ever  being  able  to  attempt  the  exercise  of 
it  in  future ;  and  that  he  was  at  the  same  time  engaged  in  certain  secu 
lar  employments  that  would  seem  to  render  it  improper  to  have  his 
name  in  their  records  as  a  member/  The  Synod  judged,  l  that  Mr. 
Woodhull  ought  to  be  continued  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  New 
York/  " 

Two  years  afterwards,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Joseph  Montgomery  of  the 
Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  whose  name  had  been  dropped  from  the  roll 
of  the  Presbytery,  at  his  own  instance,  on  account  of  indisposition  of 
body,  and  the  acceptance  of  " an  office  under  the  civil  authority/'  the 
Synod  expressed  their  disapprobation  of  the  measure,  and  recommended 
"  to  all  Presbyteries,  when  any  ministers  under  their  inspection  resign 
their  charge,  or  discontinue  the  exercise  of  their  office  while  they  remain 
in  the  same  bounds,  to  pass  a  regular  judgment  on  the  reasons  given  for 
such  conduct,  and  continue  their  inspection  of  those  who  shall  not  have 
deserved  to  be  deprived  of  the  ministerial  character,  though  they  may 
be  laid  aside  from  immediate  usefulness." 

Thus  uniformly  has  the  doctrine  been  maintained  by  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  of  our  Church,  "  that  no  minister  of  the  Gospel  can  be  regu 
larly  divested  of  his  office  except  by  a  course  of  discipline  terminating  in 
his  deposition."  The  Assembly  of  1852  took  the  same  ground,  or  at 
least  refused  to  take  ground  to  the  contrary.  In  the  case  of  a  member 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Portage,  "  who,  though  chargeable  with  no  discip- 
linable  offence,  had  forsaken  the  ministry  for  ten  or  more  years,  had 
regularly  and  permanently  engaged  in  secular  employments,  had  become 
a  private  member  of  the  Church,  and  had  no  design  of  again  acting  as 
a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  who,  on  this  ground,  had  requested  his 
Presbytery  to  strike  his  name  from  the  roll  of  members,"  the  Presbytery 
took  the  position,  "  that  presbyterial  law  contemplates  the  ministerial 
office  as  permanent,  ceasing  not  but  by  death  or  deposition  •"  yet  they 
referred  the  case  to  the  wisdom  of  the  General  Assembly.  And  the 
Assembly  of  1852,  although  the  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church 
recommended  "  that  the  Presbytery  be  directed  to  strike  his  name  from 


II. OFFICERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.  69 

the  roll,  without  implying  any  censure  or  any  imputation  upon  his  Chris 
tian  character/'  refused  to  adopt  the  recommendation ;  thereby  confirm 
ing  the  position  taken  by  the  Presbytery,  and  conforming  their  action  to 
the  uniform  decisions  of  the  highest  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  our 
Church  from  the  beginning. 

It  is  true  that,  in  common  with  most  of  the  evangelical  denomina 
tions,  we  maintain  that  ordination  is  but  a  ceremony — an  outward  sign — 
a  public  recognition  on  the  part  of  the  ordainers  of  the  fitness  of  him 
who  is  ordained  for  the  office  to  which  he  is  set  apart,  it  does  not  im 
press  a  character  or  impart  a  fitness  not  previously  possessed.  But,  in 
the  case  of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  it  recognizes  the  fact  that  the  man 
has  consecrated  himself  to  this  high  and  holy  calling;  has,  by  irrevoca 
ble  vows,  set  himself  apart  from  merely  secular  pursuits  to  the  service 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  ministry.  From  these  vows  the  Church 
has  received  no  dispensation  to  release  him;  and,  therefore,  has  ever 
disclaimed  the  power  and  right,  even  in  the  exercise  of  discipline. 

So  long,  therefore,  as  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  minister,  he  is  to  exer 
cise  his  gifts  and  graces  in  this  particular  calling.  He  is  under  cove 
nant,  both  to  Christ  and  to  the  Church,  thus  to  serve  God.  He  may  not, 
without  breach  of  covenant,  abandon,  merely  at  his  own  instance,  the 
ministerial  for  a  secular  calling.  If  the  providence  of  God  puts  it  out 
of  his  power,  evidently  and  unmistakably,  to  pursue  his  ministerial  work, 
it  becomes  his  duty  to  Iriny  his  case  before  his  brethren  of  the  Presby 
tery,  and  submit  it  to  their  decision.  If  any  minister  neglects  this  ob 
vious  duty,  and  of  his  own  accord  devotes  himself  to  secular  pursuits, 
his  Presbytery  are  to  investigate  the  case,  and  pass  judgment  upon  it. 
Such  was  the  judgment  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1834. 

"When  ministers  have  withdrawn,"  they  say,  "or  may  hereafter 
withdraw,  wholly  or  in  part,  from  the  work  of  the  ministry,  it  is  en 
joined  upon  the  Presbyteries  to  which  they  belong  to  require  of  such 
ministers  their  reasons  for  so  doing ;  which  reasons  are  to  be  put  upon 
record  by  the  Presbytery,  with  an  expression  of  their  approbation  or 
disapprobation  of  the  same." 

In  like  manner,  also,  the  Assembly  of  1802,  in  order,  very  properly, 
to  guard  against  the  practical  demission  of  the  office,  determined  and 
directed,  "  that  if  any  minister  of  the  Gospel,  through  a  worldly  spirit, 
a  disrelish  for  the  duties  of  his  office,  or  any  other  criminal  motive,  be 
comes  negligent  or  careless,  he  is  by  no  means  to  be  suffered  to  pursue 
this  course,  so  as  at  length  to  be  permitted  to  lay  aside  the  ministry, 


70  II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

without  censure ;  because  this  would  be  to  encourage  a  disregard  of  the 
most  solemn  obligations,  by  opening  a  way  to  escape  from  them  with 
impunity.  But,  in  all  such  cases,  Presbyteries  are  seasonably  to  use  the 
means  and  pursue  the  methods  pointed  out  in  the  word  of  God  and  the 
rules  of  this  Church,  to  recall  their  offending  brother  to  a  sense  of  duty ; 
and,  if  all  their  endeavors  be  ineffectual,  they  are  at  length  regularly  to 
exclude  or  depose  him  from  his  office." 

This  rehearsal  of  the  action  of  previous  Assemblies,  it  is  thought  is 
a  sufficient  answer  to  the  overture,  without  entering  upon  a  discussion 
of  the  abstract  question  :  "  May  an  ecclesiastical  body,  in  any  case,  demit 
from  the  office  of  the  ministry  without  discipline  or  censure?"  We 
simply  refer  to  the  usages  of  our  own  Church,  and  urge  them  upon  the 
attention  of  our  Presbyteries.  They  are  not  to  allow  any  of  their  min 
isters  to  retire  from  the  ministerial  work  of  their  own  accord ;  but  to 
require,  of  such  as  are  desirous  to  enter  into  a  secular  calling,  their 
reasons  for  such  a  course,  which  they  are  to  put  upon  record,  approv 
ingly  or  otherwise.  The  circumstances  of  the  age  call  loudly  upon  this 
Assembly  to  reaffirm  these  long-established  principles,  and  to  enjoin  upon 
the  Presbyteries  the  utmost  carefulness  in  preventing  the  secularization 
of  our  ministry.— Minutes,  1860,  pp.  234,  236. 

4.  May  they  liold  Civil  Office  f 

a.  "The  committee  to  whom  were  referred  the  communication  from 
the  Presbytery  of  Ohio,  respecting  the  Rev.  Boyd  Mercer,  and  his  letter 
to  the  Moderator  of  the  Assembly,  exhibited  their  report. 

"The  report  having  been  read  and  amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as 
follows : 

"With  respect  to  the  abstract  question,  whether  the  tenure  of  a  civil 
office  be  or  be  not  incompatible  with  that  of  the  holy  ministry ;  your 
Committee  are  of  opinion  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  or 
in  the  Constitution,  acts,  or  proceedings  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
these  United  States,  expressly  prohibitory  of  such  union  of  offices. 

"  With  respect  to  the  particular  case  referred  to  their  consideration, 
as  Mr.  Mercer  in  his  letter  expressly  asserts,  that  it  is  not  his  intention 
to  decline  the  office  of  the  holy  ministry,  and  that  he  was  led  to  devote 
himself,  for  the  present,  to  the  functions  of  an  Associate  Judge,  by  a 
state  of  health  so  infirm  as  to  interrupt  the  regular  discharge  of  his 
public  duties  as  a  minister  of  religion ;  your  committee  are  of  opinion 


II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  71 

that  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio  ought  not  to  censure  him,  unless  there  be 
some  circumstances  in  the  case  unknown  to  the  Assembly. 

"  That  none,  however,  may  so  far  misconstrue  these  sentiments  as  to 
persuade  themselves  that  they  countenance  a  covetous,  ambitious  spirit; 
your  committee  farther  beg  leave  to  suggest  the  propriety  of  cautioning 
your  clergy  against  worldly-mindedness ;  of  exhorting  them  not  to  as 
pire  after  places  of  emolument  or  civil  distinction ;  of  reminding  them 
that  the  cure  of  souls  is  their  peculiar  business,  and  that  they  who  serve 
at  the  altar,  ought,  as  far  as  possible,  to  avoid  temporal  avocations. " — 
Minutes,  1806,  pp.  363,  364. 

b.  "  The  Committee  (of  Overtures)  also  overtured  the  following  ques 
tion,  preferred  by  the  First  Presbytery  of  South  Carolina,  viz. :  '  Is  it 
admissible  for  a  Gospel  minister  to  hold  office  V 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Presbytery  be  referred  to  the  decision  of  the 
Assembly  of  1806,  on  the  same  question." — Minutes,  1808,  p.  399. 

5.  May  hold  the  Office  of  Chaplain  in  the  Army  or  Navy. 

a.  "Application  was  made  to  Synod  by  Mr.  Beatty,  desiring  to  know 
their  mind  with  respect  to  his  going  chaplain  to  the  forces  that  may  be 
raised  in  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania,  if  he  shall  by  the  Government  be 
called  to  that  service.  The  Synod  do  judge  it  to  be  his  duty/' — Minutes, 
1756,  p.  275. 

1).  "  Application  having  been  made  to  Mr.  Beatty  by  Colonel  Arm 
strong,  to  serve  as  chaplain  to  the  first  battalion  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Provincials  for  the  ensuing  campaign,  he  requested  the  advice  and  judg 
ment  of  this  Synod  with  respect  to  his  duty  therein.  The  Synod  do 
unanimously  agree  that  it  is  his  duty  to  go/' — Minutes,  1758,  p.  282. 

c.  "'Tis  allowed  that  Messrs.  Alexander  McDowel,  and  Hector  Al 
lison,  go  as  chaplains  to  the  Pennsylvania  forces,  and  that  Mr.  Kirk- 
patrick  go  with  the  New  Jersey  forces  the  ensuing  campaign." — Min 
utes,  1760,  p.  302. 

d.  "The  First  Philadelphia  Presbytery  report,  that  they  have  or 
dained  Mr.  Israel  Evans,  and  Mr.  William  Lynn,  to  qualify  them  to  act 
as  chaplains  in  the  Army,  to  which  they  had  been  appointed." — Min 
utes,  1776,  p.  472. 

e.  "  Also  ordained  Mr.  Robert  Keith,  to  qualify  him  to  act  as  a  chap 
lain  in  the  Army." — Minutes,  1777,  p.  477. 


72  II. — OFFICERS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

6.  An  Ordination  to  a  Chaplaincy,  not  sine  titulo. 

"  By  the  report  now  made  by  the  New  Castle  Presbytery,  it  appears 
that  there  was  a  mistake  in  the  report  of  last  year,  respecting  Mr.  Arm 
strong's  ordination  j  that  he  was  not  ordained  sine  titulo ^  but  in  conse 
quence  of  his  having  accepted  a  chaplaincy  in  the  army." — Minutes, 
1779,  p.  484. 

7.  May  a  Chaplain  be  at  the  same  time  Pastor  of  a  Church. 

"The  affair  respecting  the  First  Presbyterian  Congregation  in  this 
city  was  resumed. 

"  In  the  course  of  reasonings  upon  it,  a  case  of  conscience  was  put, 
viz.,  Whether  a  minister,  having  connection  with  any  part  of  His  Ma 
jesty's  regular  forces  as  their  chaplain,  and  receiving  the  salary,  or  any 
part  thereof  as  such,  may,  or  ought  to  accept  of  a  stated  pastoral  relation 
to  any  congregation  ?  Which  question  was  answered  in  the  negative." — 
Minutes,  1759,  p.  294. 

8.    Chaplains  in  the  Navy. 

"  A  reference  from  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  on  the  propriety 
of  their  ordaining  to  the  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  a  licentiate  under 
their  care,  who  now  holds  the  office  of  a  chaplain  in  the  Navy  of  the 
United  States,  was  considered ;  whereupon  the  Assembly 

"Resolved,  That  this  judicature  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  feels  a 
deep  and  lively  interest  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  mariners  of  this 
country  j  and  especially  of  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  naval  service 
of  our  Union  ;  and  that  the  Assembly  therefore  will  rejoice,  if  any  Pres 
bytery  under  its  care  has  the  opportunity  of  ordaining  any  well-qualified 
persons,  men  of  piety  and  learning,  with  a  view  to  their  rendering  per 
manent  ministerial  services  to  large  congregations  of  our  fellow-citizens 
who  dwell  in  ships  of  war." — Minutes,  1826,  p.  171. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CANDIDATES. 
SECTION  1. — BEFORE  LICENSUKE  AND  AS  LICENTIATES. 

1.  A  liberal  education  required. — 2.  Waived  in  certain  cases. — 3.  Time  of 
study. — a.  Three  years  proposed,  but  not  adopted. — b.  Rule  of  a  Synod  enjoin 
ing  three  years'  study,  unconstitutional. — c.  A  new  proposal  to  extend  to 
three  years,  negatived. — 4.  Candidates  are  under  the  care  of  Session  till 
ordained. — a.  They  belong  to  the  order  of  the  laity ;  and,  b.  Discipline  over 
them  is  to  be  exercised  by  the  Session. — c.  In  case  of  discipline,  the  Session 
must  notify  the  Presbytery  under  whose  care  he  is. — d.  When  Presbytery  drops 
a  candidate,  or  deprives  a  licentiate,  it  must  notify  the  Session  to  which  he  is 
amenable. — 5.  Candidates  under  the  care  of  that  Presbytery  to  which  they  most 
naturally  belong;  i.  e. ,  in  the  bounds  of  which" they  have  lived  for  the  most 
part,  and  are  best  known. — G.  For  candidates  to  go  to  foreign  bodies  to  be 
licensed,  is  irregular. — 7.  Candidates  aided  by  the  churches,  to  be  placed  under 
the  care  of  Presbytery  as  soon  as  possible,  and  licensed  by  the  Presbyteries  to 
which  they  most  naturally  belong. — 8.  Candidates  of  one  Presbytery  not  to  be 
licensed  by  another. — 9.  Neglect  to  record  the  adoption  of  the  standards;  trying 
and  licensing  at  the  same  meeting;  ordaining  without  trial  or  licensure;  and 
licensing  for  a  certain  time,  condemned  as  irregular. — 10.  Irregularity  does  not 
invalidate  licensure. — 11.  Lay-preaching  and  preaching  before  licensure,  con 
demned. — 12.  Case  of  licensure  by  a  self-constituted  committee — 13.  How  soon 
students  are  to  be  reported  as  candidates. 

1.  A  Liberal  Education  required. 

a.  It  was  requested  by  the  First  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  that 
Synod  declare  to  them  their  sense  on  this  point,  viz.,  Whether  a  person 
without  a  liberal  education  may  be  taken  on  trial  or  licensed  to  preach 
the  Gospel  ?  The  question  being  put,  it  was  carried  in  the  negative. — 
Minutes,  1783,  p.  499. 

I.  "An  overture  was  brought  in  in  the  following  terms,  viz. :  Whether 
in  the  present  state  of  the  Church  in  America,  and  the  scarcity  of  mi- 


74  III. — CANDIDATES. 

nisters  to  fill  our  numerous  congregations,  the  Synod,  or  Presbyteries, 
ought  therefore  to  relax  in  any  degree  in  the  literary  qualifications  re 
quired  of  intrants  into  the  ministry  ?  And  it  was  carried  in  the  nega 
tive  by  a  great  majority." — Minutes,  1785,  p.  511. 

c.  "  Your  committee  recommend  to  the  General  Assembly  to  enjoin 
it  upon  all  their  Presbyteries  to  take  the  most  effectual  order  in  their 
power  to  increase,  if  possible,  the  qualifications  of  candidates  for  the 
Gospel  ministry,  with  regard  both  to  sincere  piety  and  solid  and  exten 
sive  learning,  that  the  improvements  of  the  pulpit  may  keep  full  pace 
with  the  progress  of  society  and  letters. " — Minutes,  1799,  p.  181. 

(See  also  letter  to  Dr.  Rice,  Minutes,  1804,  p.  299). 

2.  Liberal  Education  waived  in  certain  cases. 

a.  "  Several  very  earnest  applications  were  made  to  the  Synod  by 
Welsh  people  in  different  parts,  representing  that  many  among  them 
understand  not  the  English  tongue,  and  unless  they  have  a  pastor  capa 
ble  of  speaking  in  their  own  language,  they  must  live  entirely  destitute 
of  ordinances ;  that  a  certain  Mr.  John  Griffith  came  some  years  ago 
from  Wales,  with  good  certificates  of  his  Christian  knowledge  and  piety, 
though  he  has  not  had  a  liberal  education,  and  of  being  there  licensed 
to  preach  the  Gospel ;  that  he  has  preached  among  them  to  their  great 
satisfaction;  and  therefore  pray  the  Synod  to  ordain  him  to  the  minis 
try,  that  he  may  both  preach  and  also  administer  the  sacraments  among 
them. 

"  Upon  considering  the  case,  the  Synod  find  that  several  members  have 
seen  his  certificates  from  Wales,  that  some  have  conversed  with  him, 
and  were  much  satisfied  with  his  Christian  knowledge  and  acquaintance 
with  experimental  religion ;  that  those  of  the  Welsh  here  who  testify  to 
the  Synod  concerning  his  useful  preaching  and  pious  conduct,  are  known 
to  be  men  of  judgment  and  integrity;  and  as  the  circumstances  of  that 
people  are  singular,  and  no  other  way  appears  in  which  they  can  enjoy 
ordinances,  the  Synod  agree  that  the  said  Mr.  John  Griffith,  though 
he  has  not  the  measure  of  school  learning  usually  required,  and  which 
they  judge  to  be  ordinarily  requisite,  be  ordained  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry,  and  appoint  Messrs.  Samuel  Davies,  Dr.  Allison,  Treat,  Hun 
ter,  and  Kettletas,  to  be  a  Presbytery  'pro  re  nata'  to  ordain  him  to 
morrow  at  11  o'clock/' — Minutes,  1758,  p.  289. 

[Mr.  Griffith  was  accordingly  ordained.] 


III. — CANDIDATES.  75 

Case  of  John  Gloucester. 

b.  Whereas,  from  the  communications  from  the  Presbytery  of  Union,  it 
appears  that  the  said  John  Gloucester  has  been  for  some  time  under  the 
care  of  the  Presbytery  of  Union ;  that,  in  the  opinion  of  that  Presby 
tery,  he  possesses  promising  talents  and  eminent  piety;  that  he  has  been 
for  several  years  engaged  in  the  study  of  literature  and  theology,  but 
has  not  yet  obtained  all  the  literary  qualifications  usually  required  in 
candidates  for  licensure ;  and  that  if  he  were  licensed,  there  is  much 
reason  to  believe  he  might  be  highly  useful  in  preaching  the  Gospel 
among  those  of  his  own  color;  and  whereas,  said  Presbytery  requests 
the  advice  of  the  General  Assembly ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  1.  That  the  General  Assembly  highly  approve  the  cau 
tion  and  prudence  of  the  Presbytery  of  Union  in  this  case.  2.  That 
considering  the  circumstances  of  this  particular  case,  viz.,  the  evidence 
of  unusual  talents,  discretion,  and  piety  possessed  by  John  Gloucester,  the 
good  reason  there  is  to  believe  that  he  may  be  highly  useful  in  preaching 
the  Gospel  among  those  of  his  own  color,  and  the  various  difficulties 
likely  to  attend  a  farther  delay  in  proceeding  in  this  case,  the  General 
Assembly  did,  and  hereby  do,  authorize  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia 
to  consider  the  case  of  John  Gloucester,  and,  if  they  think  proper,  to 
license  him  to  preach  the  Gospel. — Minutes,  1807,  p.  387. 

3.   Time  of  Study. 

a.  On  motion  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  several  Presby 
teries  of  this  Church  to  consider  whether  it  would  be  proper  to  extend 
the  time  necessary  for  young  men  to  apply  to  the  study  of  Divinity  be 
fore  they  be  taken  on  trials,  to  three  years  at  least,  and  to  send  up  a 
report  of  their  opinion  to  the  next  General  Assembly. — Minutes,  1792, 
p.  60. 

[No  action  of  the  Presbyteries  is  reported.] 

Rule  of  a  Lower  Judicature  Unconstitutional. 

I.  The  records  (of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey)  were  ap 
proved,  except  a  vote  of  that  Synod  by  which  they  determine  it  to  be 
constitutional  for  that  Synod  to  enact,  "  That,  in  future,  candidates  who 
have  the  Gospel  ministry  in  view,  be  required  to  attend  to  the  study  of 
Divinity  at  least  three  years  before  licensure ;"  which  vote  was  deter 
mined  by  the  Assembly  to  be  unconstitutional. — Minutes,  1792,  p.  59. 


<  D  III. — CANDIDATES. 

"A  remonstrance  was  presented  by  the  Synod  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  against  the  decision  of  last  year,  by  which  they  determine, 
that  <it  is  unconstitutional  for  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey 
to  enact  that,  in  future,  candidates  who  have  the  Gospel  ministry  in 
view,  shall  be  required  to  attend  to  the  study  of  Divinity  at  least  three 
years  before  licensure.' 

"  It  was  moved  to  reconsider  the  above  decision ;  which  was  agreed  to. 

"  When  it  was  unanimously  Resolved,  as  the  sense  of  this  house,  that 
the  decision  of  the  last  General  Assembly,  which  is  the  subject  of  com 
plaint,  ought  not  to  be  altered." — Minutes,  1793,  p.  73. 

Proposal  to  Extend  the  Time  to  Three  Years. 

c.  "  Overture  No.  6  was  taken  up,  viz. :  Requests  from  several  Presby 
teries  that  the  6th  section  of  chapter  xiv,  of  our  Form  of  Government, 
rnigflt  be  sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries,  to  be  so  altered  as  to  read,  '  to 
study  theology  at  least  three  years,  &c.'  The  overtures  were  read.  And 
it  was  resolved  that  the  proposed  alteration  be  sent  down  as  an  overture 
to  the  Presbyteries ;  and  that  the  Presbyteries  be  required  to  send  up 
their  answer  to  this  overture,  in  writing,  to  the  next  General  Assembly." 
—Minutes,  1835,  p.  475. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  reports  of  Presbyteries, 
on  the  overture  from  the  last  General  Assembly,  proposing  a  change  in 
the  term  of  study  of  Theological  Students,  from  two  to  three  years,  made 
a  report,  which  being  amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz.  : 

"That  they  have  had  under  their  consideration,  reports  from  fifty-Jive 
Presbyteries.  Of  these,  thirty-Jive  are  in  favor  of  the  proposed  change, 
and  twenty  are  opposed  to  it.  By  the  Constitution  of  our  Church,  the 
consent  of  a  majority  of  the  Presbyteries  is  necessary  to  authorize  the 
alteration  contemplated.  And  as  a  majority  of  the  Presbyteries  have 
sent  up  no  report  to  this  Assembly,  that  such  Presbyteries  be  careful  to 
send  up  their  opinion  in  relation  to  the  proposed  alteration  in  the  Con 
stitution,  to  the  next  General  Assembly." — Minutes,  1836,  p.  276. 

tl  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  reports  of  the  Presbyteries 
in  relation  to  certain  changes  of  the  Constitution,  reported  thai  fifty-two 
Presbyteries  have  reported  in  favor  of,  and  thirty-eight  against,  the  ex 
tension  of  the  term  of  study  to  be  required  from  Theological  Students." 
—Minutes,  1837,  p.  438. 

[Since  an  affirmative  vote  of  a  majority  of  all  the  Presbyteries  is  needed 


III. — CANDIDATES, 

for   any   change  in   the    Constitution,  the   change   proposed  was  not 
made.] 

4.  Candidates  under  the  Care  of  the  Session  until  Ordained. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  recommitted  Overture  No.  1,  viz..  The 
question  at  what  period  of  their  preparatory  course  are  candidates  for 
the  Christian  ministry  to  be  considered  as  dismissed  from  the  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  Session  and  transferred  to  that  of  the  Presbytery,  made  a 
report,  which,  being  read  and  amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows, 
viz. : 

Whereas  it  appears  necessary,  in  order  to  preserve  the  purity  of  the 
Church,  and  uniformity  of  procedure  in  the  judicatories  under  the  care 
of  the  General  Assembly,  that  the  manner  of  administering  discipline 
to  candidates  and  licentiates  for  the  Gospel  ministry  should  be  distinctly 
specified ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  1.  That  as  the  word  of  God,  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  recognize  the  distinction  of  laity  and  clergy,  and 
a  system  of  procedure  in  discipline  in  some  respects  diverse,  as  the  one 
or  the  other  of  these  orders  of  men  is  concerned,  it  becomes  the  judica 
tories  of  the  Church  to  guard  against  the  violation  of  this  principle  in 
the  administration  of  discipline. 

2.  That,  although  candidates  and  licentiates  are  in  training  for  the 
Gospel  ministry,  and  in  consequence  of  this  are  placed  under  the  care 
of  Presbyteries,  and  in  certain  respects  become  immediately  responsible 
to  them,  yet  they  are  to  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  order  of  the 
laity  till  they  receive  ordination  to  the  whole  work  of  the  Gospel  min 
istry. 

3.  That  it  follows  from  the  last  resolution,  that  when  candidates  for 
the  Gospel  ministry  are  discovered  to  be  unfit  to  be  proceeded  with  in 
trials  for  the  sacred  office,  it  shall  be  the   duty  of  the  Presbytery  to 
arrest  their  progress ;   and,  if  further  discipline  be  necessary,  to  remit 
them  for  that  purpose  to  the  Sessions  of  the  churches  to  which  they 
properly  belong ;  and  that,  when  licentiates  are  found  unworthy  to  be 
permitted  further  to  preach  the  Gospel,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Pres 
bytery  to  deprive  them  of  their  license ;   and  if  further  discipline  be 
necessary,  to  remit  them  for  that  purpose  to  the  Sessions  of  the  churches 
to  which  they  properly  belong. 

4.  That,  in  order  to  insure  the  proper  effect  of  discipline  in  the  per- 


78  III. CANDIDATES. 

formance  of  the  duties  which  severally  belong  to  Sessions  and  Presby 
teries,  it  will  be  incumbent  on  church  Sessions,  when  they  shall  see 
cause  to  commence  process  against  candidates  or  licentiates,  before 
Presbytery  has  arrested  the  trials  of  the  one,  or  taken  away  the  licens- 
ure  of  the  other,  to  give  immediate  notice  to  the  moderator  of  the  Pres 
bytery  to  which  the  candidates  or  licentiates  are  amenable,  that  such 
process  has  been  commenced,  to  the  intent  that  the  impropriety  may  be 
prevented  of  an  individual  proceeding  on  trials,  or  continuing  to  preach 
after  committing  an  offence  that  ought  to  arrest  him  in  his  progress  to 
an  investiture  with  the  sacred  office ;  and  when  Presbyteries  shall  enter 
upon  an  investigation  with  the  view  of  stopping  the  trials  of  a  candidate, 
or  taking  away  the  license  of  a  licentiate,  the  Session  to  which  such 
candidates  or  licentiates  are  amenable  shall  be  immediately  informed  of 
what  the  Presbytery  is  doing,  that  the  Session  may,  if  requisite,  com 
mence  process  and  inflict  the  discipline  which  it  is  their  province  to 
administer. — Minutes,  1829,  pp.  263,  264. 

5.   Candidates  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  to  which  they  most 
naturally  Lelony. 

"  Query.  Whether  our  students,  bred  in  our  colleges,  have  not  a  right 
to  apply  to  any  of  our  Presbyteries  for  improvement  for  the  sacred  work 
of  the  ministry,  and  whether  they  ought  not  to  be  received  on  sufficient 
recommendations?" — Minutes,  1760,  p.  305. 

The  Synod  judge  that  any  student  in  divinity  who  professes  a  design  to 
enter  into  the  ministry  has  a  right,  in  our  present  situation,  to  study  for 
his  improvement  under  the  direction  of  any  divine  of  reputation  in  the 
Synod,  according  to  a  former  act ;  but  that,  when  he  proposes  to  enter 
upon  trials,  with  a  view  to  the  ministry,  he  shall  come  under  the  care  of 
that  Presbytery  to  which  he  most  naturally  belongs ;  and  he  shall  be 
deemed  most  naturally  to  belong  to  that  Presbytery  in  whose  bounds  he  has 
been  brought  up  and  lived  for  the  most  part,  and  where  he  is  best  known. 
But  if  another  Presbytery  desire  that  any  student  or  students  should 
come  into  their  bounds,  or  if  any  such  student  or  students,  for  greater 
conveniency,  or  from  any  circumstances  that  make  it  necessary,  desire 
to  enter  on  trials  in  a  different  Presbytery,  upon  his  offering  satisfactory 
reasons,  he  may  be  dismissed ;  but  in  either  case,  the  Presbytery  to 
which  he  removes  shall  not  receive  nor  admit  him  to  come  under  trials 
upon  his  having  a  certificate  as  a  regular  church  member  only;  but  he 


III. — CANDIDATES.  79 

shall  bring  a  testimonial  from  the  Presbytery,  or  several  neighboring 
ministers  where  he  lived,  recommending  him  as  a  candidate  for  the 
ministry,  of  exemplary  piety  and  holiness  of  conversation ;  nor  shall  any 
thing  less  be  esteemed  a  sufficient  recommendation. — Minutes,  1764, 
p.  337. 

6.  Query.  Whether  it  is  regular  for  our  students  of  divinity,  who 
intend  to  return  and  officiate  in  the  bounds  of  the  Synod,  to  go  into 
New  England,  or  elsewhere,  in  order  to  be  licensed. — Minutes,  1760, 
p.  305. 

Answer.  "  Though  the  Synod  entertains  a  high  regard  for  the  asso 
ciated  Churches  of  New  England,  yet  we  cannot  but  judge  that  students 
who  go  to  them,  or  to  any  other  than  our  own  Presbyteries  to  obtain 
license,  in  order  to  return  and  officiate  among  us,  act  very  irregularly, 
and  are  not  to  be  approved  or  employed  by  our  Presbyteries,  as  hereby 
we  are  deprived  of  the  right  of  trying  and  approving  the  qualifications 
of  our  own  candidates ;  yet,  if  any  case  may  happen,  wherein  such  a 
conduct  may,  in  some  circumstances,  be  thought  necessary  for  the 
greater  good  of  any  congregation,  it  shall  be  laid  before  the  Presbytery 
to  which  the  congregation  belongs,  and  approved  of  by  them." — Minutes, 
1764,  p.  338. 

7.  Candidates  should  be  placed  under  the  care  of  Presbytery. 

a.  "  It  is  recommended  to  the  agencies  and  committees  to  endeavor  to 
have  the  young  men  aided  by  the  Church,  especially  in  their  theological 
studies,  placed  under  the  care  of  Presbyteries,  and  that,  in  all  ordinary 
cases,  they  be  licensed  by  those  Presbyteries  where  they  naturally  belong." 
(See  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xiv,  sec.  2.) — Minutes,  1854,  p.  507. 

b.  "  It  is  recommended  that  the  young  men  aided  by  the  Assembly's 
committee  be  ordinarily  placed,  as  soon  as  possible,  under  the  care  of 
Presbyteries;   and  that,  in  all  ordinary  cases,  they  be  licensed,  if  con 
venient,  by  the  Presbyteries  to  which  they  naturally  belong." — Minutes, 
1856,  p.  224. 

8.  Candidates  of  one  Presbytery  may  not  be  Licensed  by  Another. 

a.  "  The  Presbytery  of  New  Castle  expressing  some  uneasiness  at  the 
conduct  of  the  Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  for  having  received 
and  licensed  a  certain  Mr.  John  McClean,  who,  they  apprehend,  most 
properly  belonged  to  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  and  had  applied  to 


80  III. — CANDIDATES. 

them  to  be  licensed ;  and  while  they  were  taking  the  proper  steps  for 
obtaining  more  full  satisfaction  concerning  his  church  membership  and 
Christian  character,  he,  in  the  mean  time,  removed  from  them,  and 
applied  to  the  Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  and  was  licensed  by 
them  :  both  the  Presbyteries  were  fully  heard  in  a  free  conference  on 
this  subject,  and  withdrew.  The  Synod,  after  mature  deliberation,  order 
Mr.  McClean  to  be  cited  before  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  with 
power  to  them  to  hear  the  charges  against  him,  and  issue  the  affair  in  a 
regular  manner,  and  report  to  the  next  meeting  of  Synod.  And  the 
Synod  do  prohibit  the  Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery  from  employing 
him  to  preach  till  the  affair  shall  be  concluded." — Minutes,  1772,  p.  435. 

b.  The  consideration  of  the  report  of  the  Committee  to  Examine  the 
Minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  was  resumed.     The  report  is  as 
follows,  viz.  : 

"Your  committee  observe  in  page  24th,  that  although  the  Synod 
were  informed  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  that  a  certain  Mr. 
Hindman  had  put  himself  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  Donegal 
for  trials,  and  afterwards,  without  certificate  or  dismission,  offered  him 
self  to,  and  was  received  upon  trials  by  the  Presbytery  of  Lewes;  and 
though  in  page  34th  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle  represent  that  the 
said  gentleman  had  been  laid  under  censure  by  the  Presbytery  of  Done 
gal,  that  they  had  no  authentic  proof  that  it  was  taken  off,  and  that  this 
gentleman  had  obtained  license  in  opposition  to  a  rule  of  the  Synod  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  in  their  minutes  of  1764,  pages  79  and 
80;  yet  the  Synod  recommended  it  to  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle  to 
receive  and  treat  this  gentleman  as  a  regular  candidate,  without  any  de 
cision  upon  the  matters  referred  to  them." 

[Whereupon  the  Assembly] 

"Resolved,  That  the  Synod  be  informed  that  the  Assembly  disap 
prove  of  the  proceedings  as  represented  in  their  records,  in  recommend 
ing  a  candidate  to  be  received  as  in  full  standing,  before  they  had  given 
a  decision  upon  the  allegations  against  him." — Minutes,  1791,  p.  37. 

c.  "At  a  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  in  Wilmington, 
upon  the  first  Tuesday  of  January,  1791,  and  continued  by  adjourn 
ments,  the  Rev.  James  McCoy,  of  Morris  County  Presbytery,  with  a 
commissioner  from  Queen  Ann's  Congregation,  applied  to  be  received  as 
a  member  of  this  Presbytery.    As  Mr.  McCoy  had  been  under  trials  for 
licensure  in  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  and  was  licensed  and  ordained 
by  the  Presbytery  of  Morris,  this  Presbytery  agreed  not  to  receive  him 


III. — CANDIDATES.  81 

as  a  member,  until  bis  case  be  laid  before  the  General  Assembly,  at  their 
next  stated  meeting. 

"  The  General  Assembly,  upon  considering  this  case,  determined  that 
neither  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  nor  any  other  Presbytery,  ought 
to  receive  Mr.  McCoy  into  their  connection,  until  he  shall  have  produced 
a  certificate  from  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  of  his  having  given 
them  the  satisfaction  which  his  case  requires." — Minutes,  1791,  p.  38. 

9.  Certain  Irregularities  in  Licensing  condemned. 

"The  Presbytery  book  of  Suffolk  approved,  except  that  they  have 
neglected  to  record  their  candidates'  adopting  our  public  standards  at 
licensure,  though  they  inform  us  it  is  a  matter  of  constant  practice;  that 
they  try  and  license  at  the  same  Presbytery;  and  in  one  instance,  or 
dained  without  previous  trial  or  licensure ;  and  that  they  license  for  a 
certain  time.  All  which  we  highly  disapprove." — Minutes,  1764,  p.  339. 

10.  Irregularity  does  not  invalidate  the  Licensure. 

a.  "  The  committee  appointed  to  draught  a  minute  respecting  the  ap 
peal  from  the  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  whereby  they  refused 
to  revise  a  minute  of  their  preceding  sessions,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Hind- 
man,  and  refused  to  take  into  consideration  the  conduct  of  the  Presby 
tery  of  Lewes  in  the  affair  of  his  licensure,  produced  a  draught  to  that 
purpose,  which,  after  some  amendment,  was  approved,  and  is  as  follows, 
viz. : 

"  The  Assembly  having  had  the  whole  affair  laid  before  them,  and 
fully  heard  the  parties,  after  mature  deliberation,  judged  that  in  the  case 
of  Mr.  Hindman  there  appeared  to  have  been  such  a  want  of  attention 
to  the  rules  of  this  body,  and  neglect  of  order,  as  to  afford  just  ground 
of  uneasiness  to  the  appellants,  and  to  deserve  the  disapprobation  of  the 
Assembly.  But  inasmuch  as  acts  which  have  been  performed  in  an  in 
formal  manner  must  often  when  done  be  sustained,  the  Assembly  do 
hereby  sustain  the  licensure  and  ordination  of  Mr.  Ilindman,  while  at 
the  same  time  they  enjoin  it  in  the  most  pointed  manner  on  the  Synod 
of  Philadelphia,  to  give  particular  attention  that  no  Presbytery  under 
their  care  depart  in  any  respect  from  that  rule  of  the  former  Synod  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  which  is  as  follows  : 

"Any  student  in  divinity,  who  professes  a  design  to  enter  into  the 

G 


OIS  III. — CANDIDATES. 

ministry,  has  a  right,  in  our  present  situation,  to  study  for  his  improve 
ment  under  the  direction  of  any  divine  of  reputation  in  the  Synod, 
according  to  a  former  act  j  but  that  when  he  proposes  to  enter  upon 
trials,  with  a  view  to  the  ministry,  he  shall  come  under  the  care  of  that 
Presbytery  to  which  he  most  naturally  belongs ;  and  he  shall  be  deemed 
most  naturally  to  belong  to  that  Presbytery  in  whose  bounds  he  has  been 
brought  up  and  lived  for  the  most  part,  and  where  he  is  best  known. 
But  if  another  Presbytery  desire  that  any  student  or  students  should 
come  into  their  bounds,  or  if  any  such  student  or  students,  for  greater 
convenience,  or  from  any  circumstances  that  make  it  necessary,  desire  to 
enter  on  trials  in  a  diflerent  Presbytery,  upon  his  oifering  satisfactory 
reasons,  he  may  be  dismissed;  but  in  either  case,  the  Presbytery  to 
which  he  removes  shall  not  receive  nor  admit  him  to  come  under  trials, 
upon  his  having  a  certificate  as  a  regular  Church  member  only,  but  he 
shall  bring  a  testimonial  from  the  Presbytery,  or  several  neighboring 
ministers  where  he  lived,  recommending  him  as  a  candidate  for  the 
ministry,  of  exemplary  piety  and  holiness  of  conversation,  nor  shall  any 
thing  less  be  deemed  a  sufficient  recommendation." — Minutes,  1792, 
p.  56. 

11.  Preaching  before  Licensure  and  Lay  Preaching  irregular. 

a.  "  Upon  information  that  David  Evan,  a  lay  person,  had  taken  upon 
him  publicly  to  teach  or  preach  among  the  Welsh  in  the  Great  Valley, 
Chester  County,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  that  the  said  Evan  had  done 
very  ill,  and  acted  irregularly  in  thus  invading  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
and  was,  thereupon,  censured." — Minutes,  1710,  p.  17. 

L.  "  The  consideration  of  the  business  left  unfinished  yesterday  after 
noon,  was  resumed,  viz.,  the  complaint  of  the  Presbytery  of  Washing 
ton,  Ohio,  against  the  Presbytery  of  West  Lexington,  for  licensing  and 
ordaining  the  Kev.  William  L.  McCalla  contrary,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
complainants,  to  Presbyterial  order,  Mr.  McCalla  having  been  suspended 
from  Church  privileges  by  the  Presbytery  of  Washington,  in  consequence 
of  a  reference  on  the  subject  from  the  Session  of  the  Church  of  Chili- 
cothe." 

"After  a  long  discussion  of  the  subject,  the  Assembly  adopted  the 
following  resolution  and  decision  in  the  case,  viz. : 

"Resolved,  That  while  the  Assembly  disapprove  the  conduct  of  Mr. 
McCalla  in  preaching  the  G-ospel  before  he  was  regularly  licensed; 


III. — CANDIDATES.  83 

and  while  they  regret  that  the  Presbytery  of  West  Lexington,  in  the 
final  trials  of  Mr.  McCalla  for  licensure,  did  not  pay  sufficient  attention 
either  to  his  irregularity  in  preaching  as  just  mentioned,  or  to  the  pro 
ceedings  in  the  Session  of  the  Church  of  Chilicothe,  and  of  the  Pres 
bytery  of  Washington  in  his  case,  they  nevertheless  judge  that  the 
proceedings  of  the  Presbytery  of  West  Lexington,  in  licensing  and 
ordaining  Mr.  McCalla,  be  sustained,  and  that  Mr.  McCalla  be  consi 
dered  as  a  Minister  in  good  and  regular  standing  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church/'— Minutes,  1821,  p.  21. 

Lay-Agency — no  Organization  needed.     Rights  and  Duties  of  Lay- 
Members  defined. 

c.  "  The  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  paper  on  the  subject  of 
lay-agency,  presented  a  report,  which  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows : 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  overture  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Philadelphia,  Fourth,  inquiring  as  to  the  expediency  of  organizing  a 
lay-agency  in  the  work  of  evangelization,  beg  leave  respectfully  to 
report : 

"  They  have  taken  the  inquiry  presented  in  the  overture  under  careful 
consideration,  and  are  of  the  unanimous  opinion,  that  no  such  organi 
zation  is  needed  by  the  Church  as  is  therein  suggested.  In  declaring 
this  opinion,  they  would  not  be  understood  as  disparaging  in  any  way 
the  importance  of  lay  efforts  in  advancing  the  Gospel.  It  is  one  of  the 
cardinal  doctrines  of  Protestants,  that  the  proper  sanctification  and  effi 
ciency  of  the  Church  depends,  in  a  large  degree,  on  the  constant 
exercise  of  all  the  natural  talents  and  spiritual  gifts  of  its  members  in 
the  service  of  the  Lord.  Believing,  though  we  do,  in  the  divine  ap 
pointment  of  a  specially  trained  and  ordained  ministry,  we  do  by  no. 
means  confine  to  it  the  blessed  work  of  bearing  witness  for  Christ,  by 
words  and  example.  The  divine  word  makes  it  the  duty  of  every  be 
liever  to  let  his  light  shine,  and  the  savor  of  his  salt  be  diffused;  and 
so  to  contribute,  according  to  his  ability,  unto  the  edification  of  the 
Church,  and  the  saving  of  souls.  This  duty  can  never  be  too  earnestly 
enforced  and  carried  out.  Its  faithful  observance  is  the  very  life  of  the 
Church,  and  the  administrative  skill  of  a  minister  and  session  is  nowhere 
more  signally  shown,  than  in  the  means  which  they  employ  to  bring 
every  Church  member  under  their  care  to  realize  and  carry  out  the  obli 
gation.  But,  in  order  to  this,  your  committee  believe  that  no  new 


84  III. — CANDIDATES. 

ecclesiastical  provision  is  required.  Indeed,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  such 
provision  would  hinder  rather  than  promote  the  good  sought.  The  ex 
cellence  of  lay-agency  consists  very  largely  in  its  voluntary  character. 
It  tells  upon  the  people,  because  it  is  the  free  out-going  of  earnest  and 
irrepressible  sentiments  and  convictions,  and  because  it  is  neither  com 
missioned  nor  rewarded  by  man.  We  rob  it  of  its  peculiar  power  and 
efficiency,  when  we  render  it  perfunctory.  Very  undesirable  is  it,  there 
fore,  to  change  its  character,  and  convert  it  into  a  second-rate  ministry, 
liable  to  assert  pretensions  for  which  it  is  not  qualified.  The  history  of 
the  Church,  in  times  past,  too  clearly  sets  forth  the  evils  arising  from 
the  creation  of  such  an  order,  for  us  to  venture  on  the  renewal  of  the 
measure. 

"  Accordingly,  your  committee  recommend  that  no  action  be  taken  by 
the  Assembly  in  the  matter  proposed,  excepting, 

"1.  To  declare  it  as  our  unanimous  judgment,  that  the  liberty  con 
ceded  by  our  excellent  polity,  for  the  free  exercise  of  all  spiritual  gifts 
in  an  orderly  manner,  renders  the  organization  of  any  lay-agencies  super 
fluous. 

"2.  To  urge  on  all  pastors  and  sessions,  that  they  exert  themselves, 
in  all  suitable  ways,  for  the  development,  the  employment,  and  direction 
of  all  the  lay-talent  existing  in  their  churches,  unto  the  upbuilding  of 
the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  and  the  glory  of  his  name." — Minutes,  1859, 
p.  45. 

12.    Case  of  Ucensure  ~by  a  self -constituted  Committee  upon  sufficient 
reasons  approved. 

"It  is  reported  that  Mr.  Samuel  Davis,  Mr.  Hampton,  and  Mr. 
Henry,  having,  upon  good  and  sufficient  reasons,  taken  Mr.  John  Brad- 
ner  under  trials,  in  order  to  his  being  licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
and  having  gone  through  the  ordinary  pieces  of  trial,  and  being  satisfied 
with  him  therein,  as  also  with  respect  to  the  orthodoxy  of  his  faith,  did 
license  him  accordingly  in  March  last;  which  was  approven." — Minutes, 
1714,  p.  36. 

13.   When  Students  are  to  le  Reported  as  "  Candidates." 

The  following  overture  from  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  Third,  was 
then  adopted : 


III. — CANDIDATES.  85 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  General  Assembly,  in 
order  to  ascertain  the  full  number  of  individuals  in  the  Church  who  are 
preparing  for  the  ministry,  to  require  of  every  Session  to  state  in  their 
annual  report  to  their  -Presbytery  how  many  of  the  communicants 
under  their  care  are  pursuing  a  course  of  study  for  the  Gospel  ministry ; 
and  that  every  Presbytery  be  required  to  report  the  whole  number  of 
these  students,  thus  ascertained,  among  their  churches,  in  their  annual 
statement  to  the  General  Assembly,  instead  of  reporting,  as  heretofore, 
only  those  who  have  formally  been  received  under  the  care  of  the  Pres 
bytery."—  Minutes,  1852,  p'.  176. 


SECTION  2. — ORDINATION. 

1.  Ordination  by  a  committee,  frequent  and  approved. — 2.  Ordination  of  our  can 
didates  by  foreign  bodies,  disapproved. — 3.  Ordination  sine  titulo,  generally  dis 
approved  of.  In  cases  where  it  seems  desirable,  the  Presbytery  to  consult 
Synod.  Leave  granted  in  certain  cases. — 4.  Ordination  sine  titulo.  Overture 
upon,  rejected. — 5.  A  Presbytery  censured  by  Synod  for  an  ordination  sine  titulo. 
The  censure  disapproved  of  by  the  Assembly. — 6.  Ordination  on  the  Sabbath 
disapproved  of  generally. — 7.  Reordination  of  Foreign  Ministers. — 8.  Decisions 
reversed. — 9.  Rule  as  to  receiving  a  Minister  from  any  other  Church.  Not 
to  be  reordained,  but  all  the  qualifications  demanded  of  our  own  candidates  to  be 
insisted  on. — 10.  Lay-ordination  invalid, 

1.  By  a  Committee. 

a.  "The  Presbytery  having  seen  Mr.  George  Gillespie's  certificate 
from  the  Presbytery  of  Glasgow,  concerning  his  being  licensed  to  preach, 
and  his  conversation,  did  approve  of  them ;  and  in  case  Providence  make 
way  for  his  ordination  by  a  call  from  any  congregation  before  next  Pres 
bytery,  Mr.  Andrews,  McNish,  Anderson,  and  Morgan,  are  ordered  to 
ordain  him ;  and  that  one  of  the  said  members,  or  two,  as  they  shall  see 
fit,  preach  at  the  solemnity." — Minutes,  1712,  p.  26. 

I.  "  It  was  reported  by  the  ministers  appointed  to  transact  the  aifair 
relating  to  Mr.  Wotherspoon's  ordination,  that  they,  in  compliance  with 
the  last  year's  minutes,  did  solemnly,  by  prayer,  fasting,  and  imposition 
of  hands,  ordain  the  said  Mr.  Robert  Wotherspoon  unto  the  sacred  func 
tion  and  office  of  the  ministry  to  the  Presbyterian  congregation  at  Apo- 
quinomy,  upon  the  13th  day  of  May,  1714." — Minutes,  1714,  p.  35. 

c.  "  An  unanimous  call  from  the  people  of  Welsh  tract  to  Mr.  David 


86  III. — CANDIDATES. 

Evans,  being  presented  to  us  and  approven,  we  offered  it  to  him,  which 
he  accepted ;  whereupon  it  was  appointed  as  follows,  viz. : 

"That  Messrs.  Jedediah  Andrews,  Jones,  Anderson,  Gillespie,  and 
Wotherspoon,  solemnly  ordain  him  to  the  work  and  office  of  the  minis 
try,  after  having  been  satisfied  with  his  ministerial  abilities,  in  any  pieces 
of  trial  they  shall  think  fit  to  appoint  him." — Minutes,  1714,  p.  86. 

[See  Minutes  of  General  Presbytery  passim.'] 

d.  "  The  appointment  of  the  Synod  with  respect  to  the  ordination  of 
Masters  John  Clement  and  William  Stewart,  was  complied  with.  They 
being  solemnly  set  apart  to  the  work  of  the'  ministry  by  the  Rev.  Mas 
ters  Samuel  Davis,  John  Hampton,  and  John  Thompson,  at  Hehoboth, 
in  Somerset  County,  in  Maryland,  upon  the  —  day  of  June,  1719." — 
Minutes,  1719,  p.  55. 

[See,  also,  case  of  John  Griffith,  ordained  by  a  Presbytery  pro  re  nata, 
appointed  by  Synod,  p.  74. 

This  mode  of  ordination  by  a  committee  was  common  with  the 
Synod.] 

2.  Ordination  ~by  Foreign  Bodies  not  approved. 

The  Assembly  took  up  the  report  of  the  committee  on  Overture  No. 
3,  which  was  laid  on  the  table ;  which,  being  read  and  amended,  was 
adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

Whereas  many  of  the  ministers,  who  are  to  supply  the  vacant  churches 
and  destitute  places  in  the  more  new  and  growing  parts  of  our  Church, 
must,  for  some  time  to  come,  continue  to  be  educated  in  the  older  sec 
tions  of  our  country,  and  at  a  great  distance  from  the  field  where  they 
are  to  be  employed ;  and  whereas,  it  is  important  to  the  happy  and  use 
ful  settlement  of  these  ministers,  in  their  several  fields  of  labor,  that 
they  should  enjoy  the  full  confidence  of  the  ministers  and  churches 
among  whom  they  are  to  dwell ;  and  whereas,  the  ordination  of  ministers 
in  the  presence  of  the  people  among  whom  they  are  to  labor,  is  calcu 
lated  to  endear  them  very  much  to  their  flocks,  while  it  gives  their  fath- 
ters  and  brethren  in  the  ministry  an  opportunity  of  knowing  their  opin 
ions  and  sentiments  on  subjects  of  doctrine  and  discipline;  and  whereas, 
our  Form  of  Government  seems  to  recognize  the  right  and  privilege  of 
each  Presbytery  to  examine  and  ordain  those  who  come  to  the  pastoral 
office  within  their  bounds,  and  who  have  never  before  exercised  that 
office;  therefore,  Resolved, 


III. — CANDIDATES.  87 

1.  That  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  all  our  Presbyteries  not  to 
ordain,  sine  titulo,  any  men  who  propose  to  pursue  the  work  of  their 
ministry  in  any  sections  of  the  country  where  a  Presbytery  is  already 
organized,  to  which  they  may  go  as  licentiates  and  receive  ordination. 

2.  That  the  several  bodies  with  which  we  are  in  friendly  correspon 
dence  in  the  New  England  States,  be  respectfully  requested  to  use  their 
counsel  and  influence  to  prevent  the  ordination,  by  any  of  their  Councils 
or  Consociations,  of  men  who  propose  to  pursue  the  work  of  the  ministry 
within  the  bounds  of  any  Presbytery  belonging  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  and  that  the  Delegates  from  this  Assembly 
to  those  bodies  respectively  be  charged  with  communicating  this  resolu 
tion.—  Minutes,  1834,  p.  428. 

3.  Ordination,  sine  titulo. 

a.  "  The  Synod  would  bear  testimony  against  the  late  too  common, 
and  now  altogether  unnecessary,  practice  of  some  Presbyteries  in  the 
north  of  Ireland,  viz.,  their  ordaining  men  to  the  ministry,  sine  tituloj 
immediately  before  they  come  over  hither,  thereby  depriving  us  of  our 
just  rights,  viz.,  that  we,  unto  whom  they  are  designed  to  be  co-presby 
ters,  and  among  whom  they  design  to  bestow  their  labors,  should  have 
just  and  fair  inspecting  into  their  qualifications;  we  say,  it  seems  neces 
sary  that  the  Synod  bear  testimony  against  such  practice  by  writing 
home  to  the  General  Synod,  thereby  signifying  our  dissatisfaction  with 

the  same The  Synod  do  agree  that  no  minister  ordained 

in  Ireland,  sine  titulo,  be  for  the  future  received  to  the  exercise  of  his 
ministry  among  us,  until  he  submit  to  such  trials  as  the  Presbytery  among 
whom  he  resides  shall  think  proper  to  order  and  appoint.  And  that  the 
Synod  do  also  advertise  the  General  Synod  in  Ireland,  that  the  ordain 
ing  any  such  to  the  ministry,  sine  titulo,  before  their  sending  them 
hither,  for  the  future,  will  be  very  disagreeable  and  disobliging  to  us." — 
Minutes,  1735,  p.  119. 

I).  "  A  question  was  proposed  :  Whether  it  be  proper  to  ordain  to  the 
ministry  sine  titulo,  except  for  some  particular  mission  ?  The  considera 
tion  of  which  is  deferred  till  our  next  sederunt." — Minutes,  1762,  p. 
314. 

The  question,  Ought  ministers  to  be  ordained  sine  titulo,  i.  e.,  with 
out  relation  or  probable  view  had  to  a  particular  charge,  resumed ;  and, 
after  further  deliberation,  we  judge  as  follows  : 


88  III. — CANDIDATES. 

That  in  ordinary  cases,  where  churches  are  properly  regulated  and 
organized,  it  is  a  practice  highly  inexpedient  and  of  dangerous  conse 
quences,  not  to  be  allowed  in  our  body  except  in  some  special  cases,  as 
missions  to  the  Indians,  and  some  distant  places,  that  regularly  apply 
for  ministers.  But  as  the  honor  and  reputation  of  the  Synod  is  much 
interested  in  the  conduct  of  Presbyteries  in  such  special  cases,  it  is 
judged  that  they  should  previously  apply  to  the  Synod  and  take  their 
advice  therein,  unless  the  cases  require  such  haste  as  would  necessarily 
prevent  the  benefit  of  such  a  mission  if  delayed  to  the  next  session  of 
Synod ;  in  which  cases  the  Presbyteries  shall  report  to  the  next  Synod 
the  state  of  the  cases  and  the  reasons  for  their  conduct. — Minutes,  1764, 
p.  337. 

c.  Application  was  made  to  the  Synod  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Cas 
tle  for  advice  respecting  the  propriety  of  Mr.  Samuel   Smith's  being 
ordained  by  said  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  under  whose  care  he  is,  in 
consequence  of  his  having  accepted  a  call  from  a  congregation  within 
the  bounds  of  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover. 

The  Synod  having  heard  all  the  circumstances  relative  to  this  case, 
and  deliberated  thereon,  agree  that  it  is  not  expedient  for  the  Presby 
tery  of  New  Castle  to  ordain  Mr.  Smith,  as  the  matter  now  stands. — 
Minutes,  1775,  p.  465. 

d.  The  Presbytery  of  Lewes,  by  their  commissioner,  Mr.  Siemens, 
requested  leave  to  ordain  a  certain  Mr.  James  Lang,  a  licentiate  under 
their  care,  sine  titulo. 

"Resolved,  That  the  reasons  offered  for  this  measure  are  not  sufficient, 
and  therefore  that  the  request  be  not  granted." — Minutes,  1800,  p.  199. 

c.  The  following  request  was  overtured  by  the  Committee  of  Bills  and 
Overtures : 

"That  the  Synods  of  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  have  liberty  to  direct 
their  Presbyteries  to  ordain  such  candidates  as  they  may  judge  necessary 
to  appoint  on  missions  to  preach  the  Gospel ;  whereupon — 

"Resolved,  That  the  above  request  be  granted,  the  Synods  being  care 
ful  to  restrict  the  permission  to  the  ordination  of  such  candidates  only 
as  are  engaged  to  be  sent  on  missions  to  preach  the  Gospel." — Minutes, 
1795,  p.  98. 

/.  "  The  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  directed  their  commissioners  to 
solicit  the  permission  of  the  General  Assembly  to  ordain  Mr.  William 
Maffit,  a  licentiate  under  their  care,  to  the  office  of  the  Gospel  ministry, 
if  upon  examination  he  should  appear  qualified.  The  request  was  made 


III. — CANDIDATES. 

at  the  particular  instance  of  the  church  of  Bladensburg,  where  Mr. 
Maffit  officiates  as  a  stated  supply. 

"Resolved,  That  said  request  be  granted." — Minutes,  1798,  p.  146. 

g.  The  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  submitted  to  the  Assembly  for 
their  decision  the  case  of  Mr.  John  Jones,  a  licentiate  under  their  care, 
who  at  their  last  session  had  requested  that  Presbytery  would  take 
measures  to  ordain  him,  sine  titulo.  The  Presbytery  stated  that  Mr. 
Jones  had  been  a  licensed  candidate  for  a  number  of  years;  that  he  had 
always  sustained  a  good  and  consistent  character ;  that  he  was  engaged 
in  teaching  an  academy,  and  was  so  circumstanced,  that  his  being  or 
dained  might  render  him  more  extensively  useful.  The  Assembly, 
having  considered  the  case — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  be  permitted  and 
authorized  to  ordain  Mr.  Jones  to  the  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  sine 
titulo :  provided,  the  Presbytery,  from  a  full  view  of  his  qualifications 
and  other  attending  circumstances,  shall  think  it  expedient  so  to  ordain 
him/'— Minutes,  1807,  p.  386. 

h.  "  Mr.  Robert  Smith  was  appointed  a  missionary  to  the  western 
and  northern  frontiers  of  the  State  of  New  York,  provided  he  shall  be 
ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle  for  that  purpose." — Minutes, 
1794,  p.  86. 

[See  also  Minutes,  1799,  p.  172;  1809,  p.  415;  1810,  p.  459.] 

i.  A  reference  from  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  was  laid  before  the 
Assembly.  By  an  extract  from  the  minutes  of  that  Synod,  it  appeared 
that  Mr.  John  Waugh,  a  licentiate  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of 
New  Castle,  had,  for  special  reasons,  requested  the  Presbytery  to  take 
measures  for  his  ordination,  sine  titulo.  The  Presbytery  accordingly 
presented  the  request  to  Synod,  and  the  Synod  finding  that  the  authority 
in  this  case  is  by  the  Constitution  expressly  vested  in  the  General  As 
sembly,  agree  to  refer  the  matter  to  them  for  their  decision.  The 
Assembly,  having  taken  the  subject  into  consideration — 

Resolved,  That  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle  be,  and  they  hereby  are 
permitted  and  authorized  to  ordain  the  said  Mr.  Waugh  to  the  work  of 
the  Gospel  ministry,  sine  titulo:  provided,  that  the  Presbytery,  from  a 
full  view  of  his  qualifications  and  other  attending  circumstances,  shall 
think  it  expedient. — Minutes,  1805,  p.  337. 

4.    Ordination  sine  titulo.      Overture  on  rejected. 
a.  "  The  following  overture  was  brought  in  and  read,  viz. : 


90  III. — CANDIDATES. 

"In  what  cases,  except  the  one  provided  for  in  the  seventeenth  chap 
ter  of  the  Constitution  of  our  Church,  may  a  Presbytery  ordain  a  man 
to  the  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry  without  a  call  to  particular  charge  ?" 
— Minutes,  1810,  p.  456. 

This  overture  was  referred  to  Drs.  Miller  and  Green,  Messrs.  Nathan 
Grier,  Anderson,  and  Campbell,  as  a  committee. — Minutes,  1811,  p.  464. 

This  committee  reported  as  follows,  viz. : 

u  Whereas,  there  may  exist  cases  in  which  it  may  be  needful  for 
Presbyteries  to  ordain  without  a  regular  call ;  but  as  the  frequent  exer 
cise  of  this  power  may  be  dangerous  to  the  Church,  and  as  this  case 
does  not  appear  to  be  fully  provided  for  in  our  Constitution  and  Book  of 
Discipline — 

Resolved,  That  the  following  rule  be  submitted  to  the  Presbyteries 
for  their  opinion  and  approbation,  which,  when  sanctioned  by  a  majority 
of  the  Presbyteries  belonging  to  the  Church,  shall  become  a  constitu 
tional  rule,  viz. : 

"  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  Presbyteries,  when  they  think  it  neces 
sary  to  ordain  a  candidate  without  a  call  to  a  particular  congregation  or 
congregations,  to  take  the  advice  of  their  respective  Synods,  or  of  the 
General  Assembly,  before  they  proceed  to  this  ordination/' — Minutes, 
1811,  p.  474. 

[Answered  in  the  negative — 11  to  7 — and  the  subject  dismissed.] — 
Minutes,  1812,  p.  494. 

b.  [In  1813  another  rule  was  proposed],  viz. :  The  rule  proposed,  and 
on  which  an  affirmative  or  negative  vote  of  the  Presbyteries  is  required, 
is  in  the  following  words,  viz.  : 

"  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  Presbyteries,  when  they  think  it  necessary 
to  ordain  a  candidate  without  a  call  to  a  particular  pastoral  charge,  to 
take  the  advice  of  a  Synod,  or  of  the  General  Assembly,  before  they  pro 
ceed  to  such  ordination." — Minutes,  1813,  p.  524. 

[Of  the  Presbyteries  answering  this  overture,  twenty-six  replied  in 
the  negative  and  four  in  the  affirmative.] — Minutes,  1814,  p.  558. 

5.  Censure  of  Synod  for  Ordination,  sine  titulo,  not  sustained. 

The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Illinois  were,  on  the  recommendation  of 
the  committee,  approved,  with  the  exception  of  a  censure,  on  p.  209,  of 
the  action  of  Knox  Presbytery,  for  ordaining  a  man  when  there  was  no 
call  from  any  part  of  the  Church. — Minutes,  1843,  p.  17. 


III. — CANDIDATES.  9 1 

6.  Ordination  on  the  Sabbath. 

An  overture  was  received  from  the  Presbytery  of  Orange,  requesting 
the  opinion  of  the  General  Assembly  on  the  question,  whether  it  be 
proper  to  ordain  licentiates  to  the  office  of  the  Gospel  ministry  on  the 
Sabbath  day.  The  General  Assembly  think  it  would  not  be  for  edifica 
tion  to  adopt  a  uniform  rule  on  the  subject.  In  general  they  think  it  is 
not  expedient  that  ordinations  should  take  place  on  the  Sabbath ;  yet 
that  there  may  be  cases  in  which  urgent  or  peculiar  circumstances  may 
demand  them.  The  Assembly,  therefore,  judged  it  best  to  leave  it  to 
the  Presbyteries  to  act,  in  this  concern,  as  they  may  judge  that  their 
duty  requires. — Minutes,  1821,  p.  10. 

7.  Reordination  of  Methodist  Ministers. 

a.  A  petition  was  laid  before  the  General  Assembly  from  the  Presby 
terian  Church  in  the  Island  of  Bermuda,  requesting  the  settlement  of 
a  Mr.  Enoch  Matson,  an  elder  formerly  connected  with  the  Methodist 
Church,  who  was  represented  as  willing  to  subscribe  the  doctrine,  dis 
cipline,  and  government  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  accompanied  with 
a  request  from  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore,  for  direction  in  what  man 
ner  to  proceed  in  receiving  him  into  this  Church. 

"  The  Assembly  recommend  to  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  to  pro 
ceed  in  receiving  Mr.  Matson  to  trials  for  the  ministry,  in  the  same 
manner  as  if  no  licensure  or  ordination  by  the  Methodist  Church  had 
taken  place." — Minutes,  1792,  p.  56. 

6,  "  The  following  question  from  the  Commissioners  of  Hudson  Pres 
bytery  was  brought  in  through  the  Committee  of  Overtures,  viz. : 

"  Ought  a  Methodist  minister,  applying  to  one  of  our  Presbyteries, 
and  proposing  to  put  himself  under  their  care  and  to  adopt  their  stand 
ards,  to  be  again  ordained  ? 

"  On  motion,  it  was  agreed  that  a  sufficient  answer  is  already  given  to 
this  question  by  the  Assembly  in  their  sessions  of  1792,  where  they 
direct  a  Presbytery  in  a  similar  situation  to  proceed  as  though  no  ordina 
tion  had  taken  place/' — Minutes,  1800,  p.  199. 

8.    These  decisions  reversed. 
"  The  Committee  of  Overtures  brought  in  the  following  resolution, 


92  III. — CANDIDATES. 

which,  having  been  read  and  amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows, 
viz.  : 

"  Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Assembly,  the  decisions  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  1792,  and  referred  to  by  the  Assembly  of  1800, 
respecting  the  reordination  of  ministers  regularly  ordained  in  the  Metho 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  and  desiring  to  connect  themselves  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  however  expedi 
ent  at  the  time  of  its  formation,  ought  not  to  be  considered  as  a  prece 
dent  to  guide  the  future  decisions  of  the  judicatories  of  this  Church; 
and  that  the  Presbyteries  under  the  care  of  this  Assembly,  when  they 
receive  into  their  connection  an  ordained  minister  from  any  other  denomi 
nation,  be  careful  to  record  the  circumstances  of  the  case  and  the  reasons 
which  induced  them  to  receive  such  ordained  minister." — Minutes,  1810, 
p.  441. 

9.  Rule  in  respect  to  receiving  a  Minister  from  another  Church. 

The  consideration  of  the  report  of  the  committee  to  which  had  been 
referred  the  question  of  validity  of  ordination  in  the  case  of  a  Baptist 
elder,  was  resumed,  and  the  report  being  read  was  adopted,  and  is  as 
follows,  viz. : 

It  is  not  among  the  principles  or  usages  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
to  consider  the  ordination  of  ministers  by  other  Protestant  churches  as 
invalid ;  on  the  contrary,  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  always  considered 
the  ordinations  of  most  other  Protestant  churches  as  valid  in  themselves, 
and  not  to  be  repeated,  when  those  who  have  received  them  become 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Nor  is  it  perceived  that  there 
is  any  sufficient  reason  why  the  ordinations  in  the  Baptist  Church  should 
not  be  considered  as  valid,  and  be  sustained  as  such. 

But  while  the  Presbyterian  Church  can  act  as  has  now  been  stated  in 
regard  to  ordinations,  it  is  among  those  principles  and  usages  which  she 
regards  as  most  sacred  and  important,  to  secure  for  her  churches  both  a 
pious  and  a  learned  ministry,  and  she  cannot  admit  of  any  usage, 'or  ex 
ercise  any  apparent  liberality,  inconsistent  with  security  in  this  essential 
particular.  On  the  whole,  therefore,  the  committee  recommend  the 
following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  when  applications  are  made  by  ministers  of  the  Bap 
tist  or  any  other  Protestant  denomination,  to  be  connected  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  the  Presbytery  to  which  the  applications  are  made 


III. — CANDIDATES.  93 

shall  require  all  the  qualifications,  both  in  regard  to  piety  and  learning, 
which  are  required  of  candidates  for  licensure  or  ordination  of  those  who 
have  originally  belonged  to  the  Presbyterian  Church ;  and  shall  require 
the  applicants  from  other  denominations  to  continue  their  study  and 
preparation  till  they  are  found  on  trial  and  examination  to  be  qualified 
in  learning  and  ability  to  teach  in  the  manner  required  by  our  standards; 
but  that  when  found  to  be  thus  qualified,  it  shall  not  be  necessary  to  re- 
ordain  the  said  applicants,  but  only  to  instal  them  when  they  are  called 
to  settle  in  Presbyterian  congregations. — Minutes,  1821,  p.  23. 

10.  Lay  Ordination  invalid. 

a.  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  Overture  No.  15,  viz.,  on 
ordination  by  a  deposed  minister  or  by  laymen,  made  the  following  re 
port,  which  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

That  this  paper  contains  a  letter  from  a  minister  in  South  Carolina  to 
the  stated  clerk,  requesting  him  to  obtain  a  decision  of  the  General  As 
sembly  on  the  question,  "  whether  the  ordination  of  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel  by  the  interposition  of  the  hands  of  the  laity  is  valid  ?"  That 
the  answer  to  this  question  should  be  in  the  negative  is  so  obvious  and 
evident,  on  all  correct  principles  of  ecclesiastical  order,  that  your  com 
mittee  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  unnecessary  for  the  General  Assembly  to 
give  any  further  consideration  to  the  subject. — Minutes,  1832,  p.  366. 

b.  The  committee  on  Overture  No.  3,  viz.,  a  question  from  the  Pres 
bytery  of  Bethel,  respecting  holding  communion  with  the  followers  of 
\Vm.  C.  Davis,  a  deposed  minister,  and  calling  themselves  Independent 
Presbyterians,  reported  that,  in  their  judgment,  the  questions  proposed 
in  said  overture  ought  to  be  answered  in  the  negative.     They,  there 
fore,  would  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution,  viz.  : 

Resolved,  That  while  this  Assembly  readily  acknowledges  the  right  of 
the  Session  to  determine  according  to  the  Scriptures  and  the  Constitu 
tion  of  our  Church  the  qualifications  for  admission  to  sealing  ordinances, 
yet  they  feel  it  to  be  their  duty  to  declare  that,  in  their  judgment,  the 
services  of  those  who  have  received  only  lay-ordination,  and  of  those 
who  have  been  deposed  from  the  Gospel  ministry,  are  unscriptural  and 
unwarrantable ;  and,  therefore,  an  attendance  on  their  ministrations  can 
not  be  in  the  order  of  the  Gospel,  and  ought  to  be  discouraged  and  dis 
countenanced  by  every  friend  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom. — Minutes f 
1833,  p.  407. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    SACRAMENTS. 

SECTION  1. — BAPTISM. 

1.  By  whom  administered. — a.  Baptism  by  an  impostor  invalid. — b.  As  also  by  a 
Unitarian. — c.  And  by  a  suspended  Minister  during  his  suspension. — Also,  d, 
When  administered  by  a  deposed  Minister. — e.  Unworthiness  of  the  Minister 
does  not  invalidate  the  ordinances  dispensed  by  him ;  but  the  effect  of  irregu 
larities  to  be  judged  of  in  each  case  by  the  Session. — 2.  Is  Romish  baptism 
Christian  baptism?  indefinitely  postponed. — 3.  The  parents  or  others  presenting 
children  for  baptism. — a.  To  be  examined  as  to  character  and  knowledge. — b. 
And  instructed  in  their  duties. — c.  Meaning  of  "a  visible  and  credible  profes 
sion"  to  be  decided  in  each  case  by  the  proper  judicatory. — d.  Parents  required 
to  enter  into  an  express  engagement  to  perform  their  duties  to  the  baptized. — 
4.  The  subjects  of  baptism. — a.  Slaves  of  Christian  masters  and  mistresses  may 
be  baptized. — b.  Christian  slaves  of  unbelieving  masters  should  have  their  chil 
dren  baptized. — c.  It  is  the  duty  of  Christian  masters  to  present  the  children  of 
their  servants,  and  of  Ministers  to  baptize  them. — d.  The  period  of  infancy  is 
not  defined,  but  must  be  decided  in  each  case  by  the  proper  authorities. — 5. 
Pastoral  care  to  be  exercised  over  baptized  children. — And  catechetical  in 
struction  imparted. — 6.  Discipline  of  baptized  persons,  not  communicants. — 7. 
Mode  of  baptism. — 8.  Baptism  not  ordinarily  to  be  administered  to  adult  con 
verts  previous  to  their  reception  to  a  particular  church. 

1.  By  whom  administered. 

a.  Whereas  a  certain  person  pretending,  at  Egg  Harbor,  to  be  a  min 
ister  regularly  ordained  among  the  Presbyterians,  under  that  character 
baptized  some  adults  and  infants,  and  it  appearing  to  the  Synod  that  his 
pretences  were  false,  having  at  that  time  no  license  or  ordination,  it  is 
our  opinion  that  all  the  Gospel  ordinances  he  administered  under  that 
false  and  pretended  character  are  null  and  void. — Minutes,  1752,  p.  249. 


IV. — THE   SACRAMENTS.  95 

5.  The  Committee  to  which  was  referred  the  question  submitted  by 
the  member  from  the  Presbytery  of  Harmony,  and  with  the  advice  of 
that  Presbytery  in  the  following  words,  viz. : 

"  A  person  who  had  been  baptized  in  infancy  by  Dr.  Priestley  applied 
for  admission  to  the  Lord's  table ;  should  the  baptism  administered  by 
Dr.  Priestley,  then  a  Unitarian,  be  considered  valid  ?  reported,  and  their 
report  being  read  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  Resolved,  That  this  question  be  answered  in  the  negative.  And  it 
accordingly  was  determined  in  the  negative. 

"  In  the  present  state  of  our  country,  whilst  Unitarian  errors  in  vari 
ous  forms  are  making  their  insidious  approaches,  whilst  the  advocates  of 
this  heresy  in  many  cases  are  practising  a  system  of  concealment  and 
insinuating  themselves  into  the  confidence  of  multitudes  who  have  no 
suspicion  of  their  defection  from  the  faith,  the  Assembly  feel  it  their 
duty  to  speak  without  reserve. 

"  It  is  the  deliberate  and  unanimous  opinion  of  this  Assembly,  that 
those  who  renounce  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  deny 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  in  substance,  equal  in  power  and  glory 
with  the  Father,  cannot  be  recognized  as  ministers  of  the  Gospel;  and 
that  their  administrations  are  wholly  invalid." — Minutes,  1814,  p.  549. 

Baptism  l>y  a  Suspended  Minister. 

c.  "  The  following  overture  was  presented  by  the  Committee  on  Over 
tures,  viz. : 

"  Can  a  Presbytery  consistently  acknowledge  as  valid  the  ordinance 
of  Baptism,  as  administered  by  those  who  are  regularly  suspended  by  a 
higher  judicatory  of  the  Church  ?  If  not,  how  are  we  to  regard  the 
baptism  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians  ? 

"  The  Assembly  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  report  of  the  com 
mittee  on  the  overture  respecting  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians.  After 
considerable  discussion,  the  report  of  the  committee  was  adopted,  and  is 
as  follows,  viz. : 

"1.  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Assembly,  Ministers  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church,  when  regularly  suspended  by  the  competent  judicatories, 
have  no  right  to  exercise  the  functions  of  a  Minister  during  that  sus 
pension. 

"  2.  That  while  those  persons  styling  themselves  the  Cumberland  Pres 
bytery  were  under  suspension,  their  administrations  are  to  be  considered 


96  IV. — THE    SACRAMENTS. 

as  invalid ;  but  after  the  General  Assembly  have  declared  them  as  no 
longer  connected  \vith  our  Church,  their  administrations  are  to  be  viewed 
in  the  same  light  with  those  of  other  denominations  not  connected  with 
our  body.  This  decision  is  grounded  on  the  opinion,  that  the  act  of  the 
Assembly  of  1814  precluded  the  propriety  of  deposition,  or  any  other 
process  in  the  case. — Minutes,  1825,  p.  156. 

d.  "  A  reference  from  the  Presbytery  of  Hudson,  requesting  of  the 
Assembly  an  answer  to  the  following  question,  was  received  and  read, 
viz. : 

"Is  baptism  administered  by  a  minister  after  he  is  deposed  from 
office  valid  ? 

"  Resolved,  That  in  answer  to  this  question,  the  Presbytery  be  referred 
to  chap,  vii,  sec.  1,  of  the  Directory  for  Public  Worship/' — Minutes, 
1819,  p.  701. 

[The  section  thus  referred  to  is  as  follows,  viz. :  "  Baptism  is  not  to 
be  unnecessarily  delayed ;  nor  to  be  administered,  in  any  case,  by  any 
private  person;  but  by  a  minister  of  Christ,  called  to  be  the  steward  of 
the  mysteries  of  God/'] 

e.  "  The  following  question  was  proposed  by  the  Committee  of  Over 
tures,  viz.  : 

"  Ought  such  persons  to  be  rebaptized  as  have  been  offered  in  bap 
tism  by  notoriously  profligate  parents,  and  baptized  by  ministers  of  the 
same  description  ? 

"  The  question  proposed  by  the  Committee  of  Overtures  respecting 
baptism  was  resumed;  and  after  a  full  investigation  of  the  subject,  the 
following  determination  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  a  principle  of  this  Church  that  the  unworthi- 
ness  of  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  does  not  invalidate  the  ordinances 
of  religion  dispensed  by  them.  It  is  also  a  principle,  that  as  long  as 
any  denomination  of  Christians  is  acknowledged  by  us  as  a  Church  of 
Christ,  we  ought  to  hold  the  ordinances  dispensed  by  it  as  valid,  not 
withstanding  the  unworthiness  of  particular  ministers.  Yet,  inasmuch 
as  no  general  rule  can  be  made  to  embrace  all  circumstances,  there  may 
be  irregularities  in  particular  administrations  by  men  not  yet  divested  of 
their  office,  either  in  this  or  in  other  churches,  which  may  render  them 
null  and  void.  But  as  these  irregularities  must  often  result  from  cir 
cumstances  and  situations  that  cannot  be  anticipated  and  pointed  out  in 
the  rule,  they  must  be  left  to  be  judged  of  by  the  prudence  and  wisdom 
of  church  Sessions,  and  the  higher  judicatories  to  which  they  may  be 


IV. — THE    SACRAMENTS.  97 

referred.  In  such  cases,  it  may  be  advisable  to  administer  the  ordinance 
of  baptism  in  a  regular  manner,  where  a  profane  exhibition  of  the  cere 
mony  may  have  been  attempted.  These  cases  and  circumstances,  how 
ever,  are  to  be  inquired  into  by  the  church  Sessions,  and  referred  to  a 
Presbytery  before  a  final  decision." — Minutes,  1790,  p.  26. 

2.  Romish  Baptism. 

"  The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church  reported  an  overture 
from  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York,  which  is  as  follows :  l  Is  bap 
tism,  as  administered  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  to  be  regarded  as 
Christian  baptism?' '  [Referred  to  a  committee  to  consider  the  sub 
ject,  and  report  an  answer  to  the  next  General  Assembly.] — Minutes, 
1853,  p.  342. 

[The  majority  and  minority  of  the  committee  made  each  a  report, 
which  were  discussed  at  great  length,]  "and  the  whole  subject  indefi 
nitely  postponed." — Minutes,  1854,  p.  512. 

3.    Obligations  and  Qualifications  of  Parents. 

a.  [The  Synod]  "  do  also  exhort  all  the  ministers  within  our  bounds 
to  take  due  care  in  the  examination  of  all  candidates  for  baptism,  or 
that  offer  to  dedicate  their  children  to  God  in  that  sacred  ordinance, 
that  they  are  persons  of  a  regular  life,  and  have  suitable  acquaintance 
with  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion ;  that  that  seal  be  not  set  to 
a  blank,  and  that  such  be  not  admitted  to  visible  Church  relation  that 
are  manifestly  unfit  for  it." — Minutes,  1735,  p.  115. 

b.  "  That  previously  to  the  administration  of  baptism,  the  minister 
shall  inquire  into  the  parent's  knowledge  of  the  great  and  fundamental 
doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  regularity  of  their  lives  j   and  being- 
satisfied  so  as  to  admit  them,  shall,  in  public,  point  out  the  special  duties 
of  the  parents,  and  particularly  that  they  teach  their  children  the  doc 
trines  and  precepts  of  Christianity,  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  comprised  in  the  Westminster  Confession 
of  Faith  and  Catechisms,  which  therefore   he   shall  recommend  unto 
them." — Minutes,  1755,  p.  267. 

c.  "  The  following  reference  from  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  was  laid 
before  the  Assembly :  l  As  baptism  is  to  be  administered  to  the  infants 
of  those  who  are  members  of  the  visible  Church  (but  our  Directory 
leaves  the  description  of  the  visible  and  credible  profession  of  Christian- 

7 


98  IV. — THE    SACRAMENTS. 

ity  vague  and  indefinite),  it  is  humbly  proposed  to  the  Assembly  to  give 
some  precise  direction  and  definition  of  such  a  profession  for  the  informa 
tion  of  its  ministers/  In  answer  to  the  above  reference,  the  Assembly 
judged  it  unnecessary,  and  perhaps  impracticable,  to  deliver  rules  more 
explicit  than  those  contained  in  the  standards  of  our  Church ',  but  should 
cases  of  difficulty  arise,  they  must  be  decided  respectively,  according  to 
their  own  merits,  before  the  proper  judicatories." — Minutes,  1794,  p.  91. 

Parents  required  to  enter  into  Engagements. 

d.  "  The  following  question,  through  the  Committee  of  Overtures, 
was  read,  viz. : 

'•<  Whether,  besides  requiring  of  parents  dedicating  their  children  to 
God  in  baptism,  an  express  acknowledgment  of  the  duties  of  parents, 
and  recommending  to  them  the  observance  thereof,  it  should  be  con 
sidered  as  essential  to  require  that  they  come  under  an  explicit  vow  or 
solemn  engagement  also  to  perform  those  duties  ?  whereupon  the  Assem 
bly— 

'•  Resolved,  That  an  answer  to  this  question  is  contained  in  the  Di 
rectory  for  Public  Worship  of  this  Church,  under  the  head  of  the  admin 
istration  of  baptism,  which  requires  an  express  engagement  on  the  part 
of  the  parents." — Minutes,  1794,  p.  89. 

4.    The  Subjects  of  Baptism. 

a.  "  The  following  case  of  conscience  from  Donegal  Presbytery  was 
overtured,  viz. :  Whether  Christian  masters  or  mistresses  ought  in  duty 
to  have  such  children  baptized  as  are  under  their  care,  though  born  of 
parents  not  in  the  communion  of  any  Christian  Church  ?  Upon  this 
overture,  Synod  are  of  opinion  that  Christian  masters  and  mistresses, 
whose  religious  professions  and  conduct  are  such  as  to  give  them  a  right 
to  the  ordinance  of  baptism  for  their  own  children,  may  and  ought  to 
dedicate  the  children  of  their  household  to  God  in  that  ordinance  when 
they  have  no  scruples  of  conscience  to  the  contrary." — Records,  1786, 
p.  527. 

I.  "  It  was  overtured,  whether  Christian  slaves,  having  children  at  the 
entire  direction  of  unchristian  masters,  and  not  having  it  in  their  power 
to  instruct  them  in  religion,  are  bound  to  have  them  baptized;  and 
whether  a  Gospel  minister  in  this  predicament  ought  to  baptize  them  ? 
And  Synod  determined  the  question  in  the  affirmative." — Records, 
1786,  p.  527. 


IV. — THE    SACRAMENTS.  99 

c.  "  The  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  following  question,  viz. : 
'  Ought  baptism  on  the  profession  and  promise  of  the  master  to  be  ad 
ministered  to  the  children  of  slaves  T  reported,  and  their  report,  being 
amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  1.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  masters,  who  are  members  of  the  Church, 
to  present  the  children  of  parents  in  servitude  to  the  ordinance  of  bap 
tism,  provided  they  are  in  a  situation  to  train  them  up  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  thus  securing  to  them  the  rich  advantages 
which  the  Gospel  provides. 

"  2.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  Christ's  ministers  to  inculcate  this  doctrine, 
and  to  baptize  all  children  of  this  description  when  presented  by  their 
masters." — Minutes,  1816,  p.  617. 

Age  of  Infancy  undetermined. 

d.  The  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  question,  "  At  what  age 
ought  children  to  be  considered  too  old  to  be  baptized  on  the  faith  of 
their  parents?"  reported  the  following  answer,  which,  being  read,  was 
adopted,  viz. : 

The  precise  time  of  life  when  the  state  of  infancy  ceases  is  not  deter 
mined  in  the  Word  of  God,  nor  by  the  standards  of  our  Church,  and, 
from  the  nature  of  the  case,  is  incapable  of  being  regulated  by  any 
uniform  rule,  but  should  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  ministers  and  Ses 
sions,  to  be  determined  according  to  the  particular  circumstances  of  each 
case.  The  Assembly  therefore  deem  it  inexpedient  to  attempt  to  fix 
the  precise  time  at  which  children  ought  to  be  considered  too  old  to  be 
baptized  on  the  faith  of  their  parents. — Minutes,  1822,  p.  53. 

5.  Pastoral  Care  to  be  exercised  over  the  Baptized. 

"  Whereas,  The  Book  of  Discipline  states  that  children  born  within  the 
pale  of  the  visible  Church,  and  dedicated  to  God  in  baptism,  are  under 
the  inspection  and  government  of  the  Church,  and  specifies  various 
important  particulars  in  which  that  inspection  and  government  should 
be  exercised,  as  also  directs  the  mode  in  which  they  shall  be  treated  if 
they  do  not  perform  the  duties  of  church  members ;  and  whereas,  there- 
is  reason  to  apprehend  that  many  of  our  congregations  neglect  to  catechize' 
the  children  that  have  been  admitted  to  the  sealing  ordinance  of  baptism,, 
and  do  not  exercise  suitable  discipline  over  them,  therefore — 

"Resolved,  That  the  different  Presbyteries  within  our  bounds  are 


100  IV. — THE    SACRAMENTS. 

hereby  directed  to  inquire  of  the  different  Sessions,  whether  a  proper 
pastoral  care  be  exercised  over  baptized  children  in  their  congregations ; 
that  they  learn  the  principles  of  religion,  and  walk  in  newness  of 
life  before  God ',  and  that  said  Presbyteries  do  direct  all  Sessions  that 
are  delinquent  in  this  respect,  to  attend  to  it  carefully  and  without 
delay."— Minutes,  1809,  p.  431. 

To  be  Instructed  as  to  their  Duties. 

b.  u  Resolved ,  That  the  General  Assembly  recommend,  and  they  do 
hereby  recommend  to  the  pastors  and  Sessions  of  the  different  churches 
under  their  care,  to  assemble,  as  often  as  they  may  deem  necessary  dur 
ing  the  year,  the  baptized  children,  with  their  parents,  to  recommend 
said  children  to  God  in  prayer,  explain  to  them  the  nature  and  obliga 
tions  of  their  baptism,  and  the  relation  they  sustain  to  the  Church." — 
Minutes,  1818,  p.  691. 

Catechetical  Instruction. 

c.  "  The  following  resolutions  on  the  subject  of  catechetical  instruction 
were  unanimously  adopted,  viz.  : 

"  1.  Resolved,  That  this  General  Assembly  considers  the  practice  of 
catechetical  instruction  as  well  adapted  to  the  prosperity  and  purity  of 
our  Zion. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  view  also  with  deep  regret  the 
neglect,  on  the  part  of  many  of  our  churches,  of  this  good  old  practice 
of  our  fathers, — a  practice  which  has  been  attended  with  such  blessed 
results  to  the  cause  of  pure  and  undented  religion. 

"3.  Resolved,  That  the  institution  of  Sabbath-schools  does  not  exo 
nerate  ministers  and  parents  from  the  duty  of  teaching  the  Shorter 
Catechism  to  the  children  of  the  Church. 

"  4.  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  earnestly  and  affectionately  recom 
mend  to  all  the  ministers  and  ruling  elders  in  its  conqection  to  teach 
diligently  the  young  of  their  respective  congregations  the  Assembly's 
Shorter  Catechism."—  Minutes,  1849,  p.  181. 

6.  Discipline  of  Baptized  Children. 

a.  "  How  far,  and  in  what  sense,  are  persons  who  have  been  regu 
larly  baptized  in  infancy,  and  have  not  partaken  of  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  subject  to  the  discipline  of  the  Church? 


IV. THE    SACRAMENTS.  101 

"Resolved,  That  the  public  standards  of  this  Church  contain  a  suffi 
cient  answer  to  the  question  stated  in  the  above  reference/' — Minutes, 
1799,  p.  171. 

b.  [The  Book  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky]  "  con  tains  a  reference  from 
said  Synod  to  this  Assembly  of  a  case  relative  to  the  disciplining  of  bap 
tized  persons  arrived  at  maturity,  not  in  communion, 

"This  reference  was  committed  to  Dr.  Clark,  Messrs.  Nathan  Grier 
and  Picton,  who  were  directed  to  report  to  the  Assembly  on  the  sub 
ject."—  Minutes,  1811,  p.  468. 

"The  committee  .  .  .  brought  in  their  report;  which  was  read,  and 
the  subject  indefinitely  postponed." — Minutes,  1811,  p.  475. 

"  Resolved,  That  Drs.  Miller  and  Romeyn,  and  Rev.  James  Richards, 
be  a  committee  to  prepare  and  report  to  the  next  Assembly  a  full  and 
complete  answer  to  the  following  overture  from  the  Synod  of  Kentucky, 
viz.: 

"  What  steps  should  the  Church  take  with  a  baptized  youth,  not  in 
communion,  but  arrived  at  the  age  of  maturity,  should  such  youth  prove 
disorderly  and  contumacious/' — Minutes,  1811,  p.  480. 

"  The  committee  appointed  by  the  last  Assembly  to  report  to  this  As 
sembly  on  the  subject  of  disciplining  baptized  children,  reported,  and 
the  report  was  recommitted  to  the  same  committee  for  revision  and  pub 
lication;  and  it  was 

"Resolved,  That  the  Assembly,  without  expressing  any  opinion  on  the 
principles  it  contains,  recommend  it  to  the  serious  consideration  of  all 
the  Presbyteries  and  ministers,  that  in  due  time  a  decision  may  be  had 
on  the  important  subjects  discussed  in  the  report/' — Minutes,  1812, 
p.  509. 

c.  [In  1814,  the  matter  came  up  again,  and  it  was] 

"Resolved,  That  the  whole  subject  be  referred  to  a  committee,  to 
consider  and  report  to  the  Assembly,  what  shall  appear  to  them  to  be  the 
correct  method  of  procedure  to  be  adopted  relative  thereto,  in  the  cir 
cumstances  in  which  it  is  now  before  the  Assembly;  and  that  Drs. 
Green,  Woodhull,  and  Wilson,  and  Messrs.  Caldwell  and  Connelly,  be 
the  committee." — Minutes,  1814,  p.  543. 

"The  report  on  the  subject  of  disciplining  baptized  children,  which 
had  at  a  former  session  of  this  Assembly  been  laid  on  the  table,  was 
again  read,  and  recommitted  to  the  same  committee,  with  the  addition 
of  Drs.  Griffin  and  Blatchford,  and  Messrs.  Blackburn,  Fisher,  and 
Haslett."— Ib.  p.  551. 


102  IV. — THE   SACRAMENTS. 

"  On  motion, 

" Resolved,  That  the  committee  appointed  to  report  to  the  Assembly 
a  correct  method  of  procedure  to  be  adopted  relative  to  a  report  made 
by  a  former  committee,  on  the  subject  of  disciplining  baptized  children, 
be  discharged. 

"And  they  were  accordingly  discharged,  and  the  subject  was  indefi 
nitely  postponed/' — Ib.  p.  567. 

d.  "  A  reference  from  the  Presbytery  of  Fayetteville,  on  the  subject 
of  excommunicating  a  person  who  had  been  baptized,  but  had  not  been 
received  into  full  communion  with  the  Church,  was  overtured,  and  was 
committed  to  Dr.  Miller,  Messrs.  Finley,  Freeman,  Cook,  and  Haslett." — 
Minutes,  1815,  p.  578. 

11  The  consideration  of  the  report  of  the  committee  to  which  had 
been  committed  the  reference  of  the  Presbytery  of  Fayetteville,  con 
cerning  the  proper  construction  of  the  first  article  of  the  first  chapter  of 
the  forms  of  process,  relative  to  persons  who  have  been  baptized,  but 
have  not  been  admitted  to  the  Lord's  table,  was  resumed.  After  a  long 
discussion  of  the  subject,  a  motion  was  made  and  seconded  for  an  inde 
finite  postponement.  The  question  being  taken,  was  determined  in  the 
affirmative  j  and  therefore  the  farther  consideration  of  the  subject  was 
indefinitely  postponed." — II.  p.  589. 

7.  Mode  of  Baptism. 

The  committee  to  whom  were  referred  Overtures  4  and  5,  from  the 
Synod  of  West  Tennessee,  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted, 
viz.  :  That  two  distinct  questions  are  presented  by  the  Synod  : 

1.  "  Is  it  expedient  in  the  present  state  of  the  Church  for  a  Presby 
terian  minister  to  baptize  by  immersion  in  any  case  ? 

2.  "Is  the  baptism  of  the  children  of  non-professing  parents  to  be 
regarded  as  valid  baptism  ?" 

In  relation  to  the  first  inquiry,  the  Confession  of  Faith,  chap,  xxviii, 
sec.  3.  page  121,  teaches  as  follows,  viz. :  "Dipping  of  the  person  into 
water  is  not  necessary ;  but  baptism  is  rightly  administered  by  pouring 
or  sprinkling  of  water  upon  the  person/'  Your  committee  see  no  cause 
for  adding  anything  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Confession  on  this  subject. 

For  a  reply  to  the  second  inquiry,  your  committee  refer  to  the  Digest, 
part  iv,  chap,  ii,  sec.  1,  on  page  94,  where  the  judgment  of  the  Assem 
bly  in  relation  to  it  is  fully  recorded. — Minutes,  1834,  p.  433. 

[See  ante,  chap,  iv,  sec.  1,  3.] 


IV. — THE   SACRAMENTS.  103 


8.    On  Baptism  on  a  General  Profession  of  Faith  in  Christ. 

"  The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church  reported  an  answer  to 
the  following  inquiry  : 

" t  Is  it  forbidden  by  our  standards  to  baptize  adult  converts  upon  a 
general  confession  of  faith  in  Christ,  previous  to  their  being  received 
into  a  particular  church,  and  assenting  to  its  articles  of  faith  T  as  fol 
lows,  viz.  : 

"  A  profession  of  faith  in  Christ  and  obedience  to  Him  is  all  that  is 
required  in  our  standards  of  those  who  are  out  of  the  visible  church,  in 
order  to  their  being  baptized.  (See  Con.  of  Faith,  chap,  xxviii,  sec.  4  ; 
Larger  Cat.,  quest.  166 ;  Shorter  Cat.,  quest.  95.)  Hence,  cases  may 
occur  in  which,  as  in  the  case  of  Philip  and  the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  it 
may  be  proper  to  baptize  a  person  who  does  not  expect  immediately  to 
connect  himself  with  any  particular  church.  But  inasmuch  as  it  was 
the  obvious  intent  of  the  Saviour  that  all  His  disciples  should  be  asso 
ciated  in  local  churches,  and  inasmuch  as  we  cannot  obey  one  of  His 
commandments,  that  requiring  us  to  remember  Him  at  his  table,  without 
such  connection  j  therefore,  your  committee  believe  that  in  no  ordinary 
circumstances  can  a  person  give  good  evidence  of  a  readiness  to  obey 
Christ  in  all  things,  who.  having  the  opportunity,  does  not  connect  him 
self  with  some  particular  branch  of  the  visible  body  of  Christ.  In  the 
practice  of  our  Church,  and  according  to  her  standards,  baptism  is  mani 
festly  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  general  profession  of  faith  in,  and  obe 
dience  to,  Christ,  which  constitute  his  initiation  into  the  visible  Church, 
and  into  some  particular  branch  of  it;  and  in  no  ordinary  case  ought  the 
several  parts  of  this  solemn  profession  to  be  separated." — Minutes,  1860, 
p.  244. 


SECTION  2. — THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

i.  Administration  permitted  where  there  is  no  organized  church. — 2.  Not  ordina 
rily  to  be  administered  within  the  bounds  of  a  congregation  without  the  consent 
of  the  minister  and  Session. 

1.  Permitted  where  there  is  no  organized  Church. 

"  It  was  moved  that  the  restriction  laid  by  the  last  General  Assembly 
on  our  missionaries,  which  confines  them  to  administer  the  ordinance  of 


104  IV. — THE   SACRAMENTS. 

the  Lord's  Supper  in  such  places  only  where  there  are  church  officers 
regularly  appointed,  be  repealed,  and  it  was  repealed  accordingly/' — 

Minutes,  1798,  p.  146. 

* 

2.  Not  ordinarily  to  be  administered  within  the  "bounds  of  a  Congrega 
tion  without  consent  of  the  Minister  and  Session. 

"The  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  appeal  of  the  Rev.  R.  B. 
Dobbins,  from  the  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  affirming  a  de 
cision  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ebenezer,  in  the  cases  of  the  Rev.  William 
L.  McCalla,  and  the  Session  of  the  Church  of  Augusta,  reported,  and 
the  report  being  read,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"While  the  Assembly,  as  a  general  principle,  disapprove  of  the  admin 
istration  of  the  sacraments  by  one  of  their  ministers  within  the  bounds 
of  a  congregation  with  which  he  is  not  connected,  without  the  consent 
of  the  minister  and  Session  of  said  congregation ;  yet  under  the  peculiar 
local  circumstances  of  the  people,  among  which  Mr.  McCalla  occasion 
ally  administered  ordinances,  the  Assembly  cannot  decide  that  he  de 
serves  censure ;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  affirming  a 
decision  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ebenezer  in  regard  to  the  complaint  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Dobbins,  against  the  Rev.  Mr.  McCalla,  be,  and  it  hereby 
is,  affirmed." — Minutes,  1824,  p.  124. 


^U  TL,!J  % 


u, 


CHAPTER  V. 

OF  THE   COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 
SECTION  1.  —  OF  CHURCH  SESSIONS. 

1.  Quorum  of  the  Session.  One  elder,  if  there  be  but  one,  with  a  minister,  may 
form  a  quorum.  —  2.  The  appointment  of  a  special  Session  is  unconstitutional.  — 
3.  The  Session  should  be  represented  in  Presbytery  and  Synod.  —  4.  A  Session 
may  not  invite  a  minister  to  sit  as  a  corresponding  member,  nor  assign  him  as 
counsel  for  the  accused.  —  5.  No  one,  not  a  member  of  the  court,  may  act  as 
counsel.  —  6.  An  elder  has  in  no  case  a  legal  right  to  adjudicate  in  any  other 
church  than  that  in  which  he  is  an  elder.  —  7.  Records  of  the  Session  to  be  an 
nually  sent  up  for  review.  —  8.  The  Session  may  not  introduce  a  new  Psalmody 
without  the  consent  of  the  majority  of  the  congregation.  —  9.  Where  a  minister 
is  the  accuser,  a  minister  should  preside.  —  10.  The  Session  cannot  be  set  aside 
by  an  act  of  the  church  ;  nor  would  such  attempted  act  deprive  the  church  of 
its  right  to  be  represented  by  its  elders  in  the  courts  of  the  Church. 

1.    Quorum  of  Sessions. 

a.  "  I.  The  Church  Session  consists  of  the  pastor  or  pastors  and  ruling 
elders  of  a  particular  congregation. 

"II.  Of  this  judicatory,  two  elders,  if  there  be  as  many  in  the  con 
gregation,  with  the  pastor,  shall  be  necessary  to  constitute  a  quorum." 
—  Form  of  Government,  chap.  ix. 

b.  The  inquiry,  which  is  in  these  words,  "  Can  a  minister  with  one 
elder  form  a  Session  capable  of  transacting  judicial  business  ?"  is  suffi 
ciently  answered  in  the  Constitution,  Form  of  Government,  chap,  ix, 
sec.  2,  where  it  seems  to  be  implied  that  cases  may  occur  with  infant  or 
feeble  churches,  in  which  it  would  be  impracticable  for  a  time  to  have 
more  than  one  elder,  and  yet  be  necessary  to  perform  acts  of  a  judicial 
character.     For  such  the  Constitution  provides;   but  if  there  be  more 
than  one  elder,  then  two  at  least,  with  a  minister,  are  necessary  to  form 
a  Session.  —  Minutes,  1836,  p.  263. 


106  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 


2.  A  Special  Session  unconstitutional. 

a.  The  Presbytery  of  Miami  did  appoint  a  special  Session  composed 
of  elders  belonging  to  different  congregations,  for  the  purpose  of  trying 
Mr.  Lowrey ,  and  the  decision  of  such  a  special  Session  was  affirmed  by 
the  Synod  of  Ohio ;  therefore — 

Resolved,  That  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Lowrey  be  sustained,  and  it  hereby 
is  sustained  ;  and  that  all  the  proceedings  in  the  case  be,  and  they  hereby 
are  reversed,  on  the  ground  that  the  appointment  of  such  a  special  Ses 
sion  is  entirely  unconstitutional ;  and  if  Mr.  Lowrey  has  done  anything 
offensive,  he  ought  to  be  tried  by  the  courts  that  have  been  instituted  by 
the  Constitution  of  our  Church. — Minutes,  1823,  p.  92. 

Z>.  "  This  Assembly  concur  in  opinion  with  the  last  General  Assembly, 
that  the  special  Session  appointed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Miami  for  the 
trial  of  S.  Lowrey,  was  an  unconstitutional  court,  and  that  all  the  pro 
ceedings  of  that  body  in  this  case,  and  of  the  Presbytery  of  Miami  and 
of  the  Synod  of  Ohio,  sanctioning  the  acts  of  that  body,  are  irregular. 
And  the  allegation  of  th~e  Synod,  in  their  memorial,  that  this  body, 
though  called  a  Session,  was,  in  reality,  no  more  than  a  committee  of 
Presbytery,  is  incorrect ;  for  they  are  not  only  denominated  a  Session, 
but  they  performed  the  acts  which  belong  peculiarly  to  a  Church  Session  : 
they  sat  in  judgment  upon  a  member  of  the  Church  and  an  elder,  and 
condemned  and  suspended  him;  but  no  Presbytery  has  authority,  accord 
ing  to  the  Constitution  of  our  Church,  to  delegate  to  a  committee  a  power 
to  perform  such  acts  as  those. "• — Minutes,  1824,  p.  115. 

3.  Of  the  Session:  Duty  to  be  represented  in  Presbytery  and  Synod. 

"The  Synod  do  recommend  it  to  the  several  Presbyteries  belonging 
to  their  body  to  call  those  Sessions  to  account  that  do  not  send  elders  to 
attend  upon  the  Synod  and  Presbyteries,  and  to  enjoin  these  Sessions  to 
call  those  elders  to  an  account  that  do  not  attend  upon  judicatories  when 
sent  by  them." — Minutes,  1753,  p.  256. 

4.  A  Session  may  not  invite  a  Minister  to  sit  as  Correspondent;  nor 
assign  him  as  Counsel  for  the  Accused. 

The  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures  reported  Overture  No.  4  in 
these  words,  viz. : 


THE    SESSIONS.  107 

"  May  a  Session  of  a  church  invite  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  belonging 
to  the  same  Presbytery  or  Synod  to  which  the  church  belongs,  to  sit  as 
a  corresponding  member  of  said  Session  ;  and  when  so  invited,  may  such 
minister,  at  the  request  of  an  accused  brother,  be  assigned  as  counsel  for 
the  accused  ? 

"  The  committee  recommended  that  both  questions  be  answered  in  the 
negative,  and  the  report  was  adopted." — Minutes,  1851,  p.  20. 

5.  No  one  not  a  Member  of  the  Judicatory  may  act  as  Counsel. 

The  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures  reported  Overture  No.  5,  as 
follows : 

"  May  the  Session  of  a  church,  at  the  request  of  an  accused  brother, 
assign  as  his  counsel  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  belonging  to  the  same 
Presbytery  to  which  the  Session  belongs  ?" 

The  committee  answered  :  "  There  is  no  provision  for  such  a  case  in 
our  Constitution,  and  though  it  does  not  appear  to  contravene  its  spirit 
and  design,  and  might,  in  special  cases,  be  allowable  with  advantage,  yet 
a  strict  interpretation  of  chap,  iv,  sec.  21,  of  the  Book  of  Discipline 
seems  to  preclude  the  employment  of  any  one  as  counsel  who  is  not  a 
member  of  the  Judicatory." 

The  report  was  adopted. — Minutes,  1851,  p.  29. 

6.  A  Ruling  Elder  lias  no  ri(jht  to  Adjudicate  in  another  Church. 

11  Overture  No.  14,  viz.,  the  following  question  from  the  Presbytery  of 
Salem,  'Has  a  ruling  elder,  in  any  case,  a  legal  right  to  adjudicate  in 
another  church  than  that  of  which  he  is  an  elder  ?'  was  taken  up,  and 
decided  in  the  negative/' — Minutes,  1831,  p.  324. 

7.   Session  Records  to  be  annually  sent  up  for  Review. 

a.  The  following  resolution  was  submitted  to  the  Assembly,  and  after 
a  long  discussion,  was  adopted. 

"  Whereas,  It  appeared,  in  the  course  of  the  free  conversation  on  the 
state  of  religion,  that  in  one  of  the  Presbyteries  under  the  care  of  the 
General  Assembly,  the  sessional  records  of  the  several  church  Sessions 
were  not  regularly  called  up  and  examined  every  year  by  the  said  Pres 
bytery,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  other  Presbyteries  had  con 
ducted  in  the  same  manner,  therefore — 


108  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  and  it  hereby  is  required  of  all  the  Presbyteries 
within  the  bounds  of  the  General  Assembly  annually  to  call  up  and 
examine  the  sessional  records  of  the  several  churches  under  their  care, 
as  directed  in  the  Book  of  Discipline." — Minutes,  1809,  p.  429. 

I).  The  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  order  of  the  last  General 
Assembly,  respecting  the  examination  of  Session  books,  and  also  the 
remonstrance  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  requesting  this  Assem 
bly  to  review  said  order,  brought  in  their  report,  which  was  read  and 
adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  Assembly,  after  seriously  reviewing  the  order  of  the  last  Assem 
bly,  and  maturely  deliberating  on  the  remonstrance  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Philadelphia  against  it,  can  by  no  means  rescind  the  said  order,  inasmuch 
as  they  consider  it  as  founded  on  the  Constitution  of  our  Church,  and  as 
properly  resulting  from  the  obligation  on  the  highest  judicatory  of  the 
Church  to  see  that  the  Constitution  be  duly  regarded ;  yet,  as  it  is 
alleged,  that  insisting  on  the  rigid  execution  of  this  order,  with  respect 
to  some  of  the  church  Sessions,  would  not  be  for  edification,  the  Assem 
bly  are  by  no  means  disposed  to  urge  any  Presbytery  to  proceed,  under 
this  order,  beyond  what  they  may  consider  prudent  and  useful/' — 
Minutes,  1810,  p.  453. 

[For  duties  of  Session  when  a  church  is  vacant,  see  under  Election 
of  Pastors,  p.  58.] 

8.   Session  may  not  introduce  a  new  Psalmody,  without  the  Consent  of 
the  Congregation. 

"  It  being  moved  to  the  Synod,  whether  a  church  Session  hath  power 
to  introduce  a  new  version  of  Psalms  into  the  congregation  to  which 
they  belong,  without  the  consent  of  the  majority  of  said  congregation  ', 
it  was  voted  in  the  negative,  nemine  contradicente." — Minutes,  1753, 
p.  255. 

9.    Where  a  Minister  is  the  Accuser,  a  Minister  must  Preside. 

<(  Ordered,  To  hear  the  reference  by  the  Second  Philadelphia  Presby 
tery  of  Mr.  Alexander  Alexander's  appeal  from  the  judgment  of  the 
Session  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  city.  ^ 

"After  stating  the  cause  and  reading  the  judgment  of  the  Session 
and  the  appeal,  both  parties  were  fully  heard ;  and  the  Synod  finding, 


THE    SESSIONS.  109 

that  as  the  Session  had  not  a  minister  of  the  word  to  preside  through 
the  course  of  the  trial,  and  that  a  minister  was  the  accuser  of  the  appel 
lant,  it  was  judged  it  was  at  least  inexpedient  to  proceed  to  trial;  and 
upon  the  whole  we  think  it  best,  and  do  remit  the  matter  back  to  the 
Presbytery,  to  be  heard  and  judged  of  by  them  de  novo. — Minutes, 
1773,  p.  447. 

10.  Deliverance  in  a  Special  Case. 

"  The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church,  to  whom  was  referred 
the  overture,  'When  a  church  shall  dismiss  its  ruling  elders,  and  deny  to 
its  members  the  right  of  appeal  and  complaint,  and  deny  the  authority 
of  Presbytery  over  it,  has  it  a  right  to  be  represented  in  the  judicatories 
of  our  Church  ?'  reported  as  follows  : 

"  Our  Church  is  organized  on  constitutional  principles,  with  powers 
and  duties  appropriate  to  each  branch  or  part  thereof;  and,  with  a  gra 
dation  of  subordinate  and  superior  judicatories,  designed  to  preserve 
unity  of  doctrine,  and  orderly  discipline,  according  to  the  Scriptures. 

"  This  Constitution  does  not  recognize  a  right  of  revolution,  and  makes 
no  provision  therefor,  but  treats  all  such  cases  simply  as  breaches  of 
order,  and  visits  them  with  appropriate  constitutional  remedies.  Any 
individual  church  is  represented  in  the  Church  judicatories  constitution 
ally,  only  by  the  pastor  or  an  elder,  one  or  both ;  and  it  can  find  admis 
sion  into  such  judicatories  only  through  such  a  mode  of  representation. 

"The  overture  supposes  three  cases  :  1st,  a  dismissal  of  elders;  2d, 
a  denial  of  the  right  of  appeal  and  complaint;  and  3d,  a  denial  of  the 
authority  of  the  Presbytery. 

"  Each  of  these  is  an  unconstitutional  act,  is  utterly  null  and  void, 
and  subjects  the  offending  church  to  visitation  and  discipline  at  the 
hands  of  the  Presbytery.  The  Form  of  Government,  chap,  x,  sec.  8, 
empowers  the  Presbytery  '  to  visit  particular  churches,  for  the  purpose 
of  inquiring  into  their  state,  and  redressing  the  evils  that  may  have 
arisen  in  them ;  to  unite  or  divide  congregations,  at  the  request  of  the 
people ;  or  to  form  or  receive  new  congregations ;  and,  in  general,  to 
order  whatever  pertains  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  churches  under 
their  care.' 

"  The  above-named  acts  of  insubordination,  being  void,  work  no  effect; 
the  Session  have  still  the  right,  and  it  is  their  duty,  to  send  one  of  the 
elders  to  the  Presbytery  and  the  Synod ;  and  his  votes  and  acts  in  these 


110  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

bodies  are  the  votes  and  the  acts  of  the  church.  So,  too,  the  Presby 
tery  may  send  any  one  of  such  elders  to  the  General  Assembly ;  and 
should  such  church  refuse  obedience  to  the  acts  of  the  judicatories  so 
constituted,  it  would  be  subject  to  the  discipline,  in  due  form,  of  our 
ecclesiastical  law.  Such  church  has  a  right  to  be  represented  by  elders, 
and  it  cannot  pass  by  them  and  substitute  a  private  member  as  its  repre 
sentative.  A  void  act  of  deposition,  or  dismission  of  its  elders,  does  not 
incapacitate  the  church.  In  sending  one  of  its  dismissed  elders  to  the 
Presbytery  or  the  Synod,  it  disaffirms  its  illegal  act,  and  that  is  an  end 
of  it;  and  if  it  should  send  a  delegate  not  an  elder,  he  could  not  be 
received ;  and  the  church  would  simply  be  unrepresented  (except  by 
the  pastor),  pro  liac  vice;  but  the  church  is  still  under  the  care  of  the 
Presbytery,  and  subject  to  its  government.  The  bond  of  union,  which 
was  formed  bj  mutual  and  concurrent  consent  and  act,  cannot  be  dis 
solved  by  an  ex  parte  act  of  insubordination  or  revolution,  until  the  other 
party  has  acted  thereon.  The  committee,  therefore,  recommend  the  fol 
lowing  answer  to  the  overture  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  acts  of  insubordination  specified  in  the  overture 
do  not,  of  themselves,  infer  a  forfeiture  of  the  church's  right  to  be 
represented  in  the  Church  judicatories;  but  such  representation  must 
be  in  the  mode,  and  by  the  persons,  specified  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
Church. 

"The  report  was  adopted."— Minutes,  1860,  pp.  260,  261. 


SECTION  2. — THE  PRESBYTERY. 

I.  ITS  MEMBERS. — 1.  Ruling  elders,  in  the  absence  of  their  pastors,  entitled  to  a 
seat. — 2.  Ministers  without  charge  are  members  of  the  Church  courts. — 3.  But 
a  ruling  elder  without  charge  has  no  seat  in  any  judicatory  of  the  Church. — 4. 
The  Presbytery  alone  is  the  judge  of  the  fitness  of  its  members. — 5.  It  may 
reject  an  applicant  at  its  discretion;  but,  6,  not  without  good  reasons. — 7.  A 
new  rule  refused. — 8.  Rule  as  to  a  member  of  an  extinct  Presbytery,  charged 
with  an  offence.  The  Presbytery  to  which  he  applies  should  receive  him,  and 
if  charged  with  an  offence,  try  him.  But  the  Presbytery  may  refuse  to  receive 
him  ;  in  which  case  he  is  under  the  special  jurisdiction  of  the  Synod. — 9.  Mi 
nisters  and  licentiates,  received  from,  other  bodies,  are  required  to  answer  the 
questions,  Form  Gov.  chaps,  xiv,  xv. — JO.  Members  dismissed  in  good  stand 
ing  by  sister  Presbyteries  ought  to  be  received;  but,  11,  it  is  the  right  of  every 
Presbytery  to  satisfy  itself  of  the  soundness  of  the  applicant. — 12.  Examination 
made  imperative,  in  every  case;  but,  13,  the  rule  declared  unconstitutional  and 


THE   PRESBYTERY.  Ill 

void. — 14.  Rule  for  the  reception  of  foreign  ministers.    The  rule  enforced.     15. 
Modification  of  the  rules  refused. 

II.  ITS  JURISDICTION. — 1.  a.  Over  members  non-resident,  to  try  them.     b.  Diffi 
culty  of  process  does  not  relieve  the  Presbytery  of  responsibility.     Discipline  by 
a  "  mission,"  not  recognized. — c.  A  case  transferred  to  the  Presbytery  within 
•whose  bounds  the  accused  resides. — d.   Construction  of  chap,  v,  sees.  3  and  4, 
Book  of  Discipline. — 2.  Where  a  Session  cannot  act,  the  Presbytery  is  the  proper 
court   to   try  ruling  elders. — 3.    When    ministers   withdraw  irregularly,   their 
name  is  to  be  stricken  from  the  roll.     Also  churches,  and  church  members. — 
4.   When  ministers  withdraw  partially  or  entirely  from  the  work  of  the  minis 
try,  their  reasons  for  so  doing  are  to  be  recorded,  with  the  approval  or  disap 
proval  of  the  Presbytery. — 5.  A  minister  having  left  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  wishing  to  return,  must  apply  to  the  Presbytery  from  which  he  withdrew. — 
6.  The  Assembly  refuses  leave  to  prosecute  ministers  of  other  Presbyteries,  who 
preach  heresy  within  their  bounds. — 7.  Jurisdiction  over  a  deposed  minister,  is 
in  the  Presbytery  that  deposed  him. — 8.  A  minister  holding  a  letter  of  dismis 
sion,  is  a  member  of  the  Presbytery,  until  received  by  another  body. 

III.  DISMISSION  OF  MEMBERS. — 1.  The  body  to  which  he  is  dismissed  must  be 
specified. — 2.  May  not  dismiss  by  a  "  standing  committee." — 3.  Where  a  sen 
tence  is  reversed,  and  process  not  renewed  within  a  certain  time,  a  member 
may  claim  a  dismissal  in  good  standing. 

IV.  BOUNDARIES  OF  PRESBYTERIES. — 1.    Should  have  geographical  limits. — 2. 
"  Elective  affinity"  condemned. — 3.  Exceptions  permitted. — 4.  Ministers  living 
out  of  the  bounds  of  their  Presbyteries,  to  show  cause  for  non-residence;  or  to 
be  transferred  to  the  Presbytery  within  whose  bounds  they  reside. — 5.  A  Pres 
bytery  may  not  dismiss,  nor  receive,  a  church  without  the  approval  of  Synod. 

V.  MISCELLANEOUS. — 1.  The  Presbytery  to  inspect  its  members. — 2.  A  Presby 
tery,  organized  without  the  act  of  Synod,  recognized. — 3.  Duty  of  minorities, 
where   the  majority  has   withdrawn. — 4.    Resolutions  excluding  slaveholders 
from   the  pulpit  and   from   communion  unconstitutional,  and  Presbyteries  re 
quested  to  rescind  such  resolutions. — 5.   Church  covenants  belong  to  Presby 
teries  and  Synods. — G.  Two  clerical  members  not  a  quorum. 

I.  ITS  MEMBERS. 

1.  Ruling  Elder  entitled  to  a  Seat  in  the  absence  of  the  Pastor. 
"  Mr.  Edmundson  being  present  as  a  representative  of  the  congrega 
tion  of  Patuxent,  and  their  minister  absent,  it  was  put  to  the  vote 
whether  the  said  Mr.  Edmundson  should  act  here  as  a  representative, 
notwithstanding  the  minister's  absence,  and  carried  in  the  affirmative, 
nem.  con" — Minutes,  1716,  p.  42. 

2.  Ministers  without  Charge  entitled  to  a  Seat. 
lt  Are  ministers  without  charges  constituent  members  of  our  church 


112  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

judicatures,  and  have  they  an   equal  voice   with  settled  pastors   and 
ruling  elders  of  congregations  in  ecclesiastical  governments  ?" 

"  In  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  this  question  is  answered  affirma 
tively,  chap,  ix,  sec.  2,  of  the  Form  of  Government  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  these  words  :  l  A  Presbytery  consists  of  all  the  ministers  and 
one  ruling  elder  from  each  congregation  within  a  certain  district/  "• — 
Minutes,  1816,  p.  615. 

3.  An  Etder  without  Charge  is  not,  entitled  to  a  Seat. 

Resolved,  That  no  ruling  elder  who  has  retired  from  the  active  ex 
ercise  of  his  office  in  the  church  to  which  he  belongs,  can  be  admitted 
as  a  member  of  a  Presbytery,  Synod,  or  General  Assembly. 

This  resolution,  after  some  discussion,  was  adopted  by  yeas  and  nays  : 
yeas  76,  nays  15. — Minutes,  1835,  p.  489. 

4.  The  Presbytery  alone  must  judge  of  the  fitness  of  its  Members. 

"  Your  committee  doubted  the  correctness  of  the  order  given  by  the 
Synod  to  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva,  to  reconsider  their  proceedings  on 
the  subject  of  the  admission  of  the  Rev.  Shipley  Wells,  a  constituent 
member  of  that  Presbytery,  which  order,  though  it  be  not  appealed 
from,  appears  to  have  given  rise  to  the  protest  in  question. 

11  The  Synod  of  Geneva  were  beyond  doubt,  in  the  opinion  of  your 
committee,  competent  to  censure  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva  for  admitting 
hastily,  and  on  slight  evidence,  into  their  body,  an  unworthy  or  even  a 
suspicious  character.  But  it  is,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee, 
equally  clear,  that  the  right  of  deciding  on  the  fitness  of  admitting  Mr. 
Wells,  a  constituent  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva,  belonged  to 
the  Presbytery  itself;  and  that  having  admitted  him,  no  matter  how 
improvidently,  that  their  decision  was  valid  and  final.  The  individual 
admitted  became  a  member  in  full  standing ;  nor  could  the  Presbytery, 
though  it  should  reconsider,  reverse  its  own  decision,  or  in  any  way  sever 
the  member  so  admitted  from  their  body,  except  by  a  regular  process. 
Adopted."— Minutes,  1816,  p.  612. 

5.  A  Presbytery  may  reject  an  Applicant  for  cause. 

A  complaint  and  appeal  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Ledlie  Birch  against 
certain  proceedings  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Birch, 


THE   PRESBYTERY.  113 

particularly  for  refusing  to  receive  him  as  a  member  of  their  body,  on 
the  ground  of  a  supposed  want  of  acquaintance  with  experimental  reli 
gion,  together  with  a  representation  of  the  congregation  of  Washington, 
in  the  bounds  of  said  Presbytery,  on  the  same  subject,  was  brought  in 
by  the  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures. 

Subsequently,  u  Resolved,  That  no  evidence  of  censurable  procedure 
in  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Birch,  has  appeared  to 
this  house,  inasmuch  as  there  is  a  discretionary  power  necessarily  lodged 
in  every  Presbytery  to  judge  of  the  qualifications  of  those  whom  they 
receive,  especially  with  respect  to  experimental  religion. " — Minutes, 
1801,  pp.  213,  218. 

6.  But  not  without  sufficient  reasons. 

a.  A  complaint  was  brought  in  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  George  Duffield 
against  the  Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  that  they  had,  by  one  of 
tlieir  members,  obstructed  his  entrance  into  a  church  in  this  city  under 
their  care,  to  which  he  had  accepted  a  call,  and  had  also  refused  to  re 
ceive  him  as  a  member,  although  he  was  dismissed  from,  and  recom 
mended  by,  the  Presbytery  of  Donegal,  which  was  read. 

After  having  maturely  considered  this  matter,  the  Synod  judge  that 
Mr.  Duffield  had  just  cause  of  complaint  against  the  conduct  and  judg 
ment  of  the  Second  Philadelphia  Presbyter}7,  who  ought  to  have  admit 
ted  him  to  membership  with  them,  and  allowed  him  a  fair  trial ;  where 
fore  we  now  declare  him  to  be  minister  of  the  Pine  Street  or  Third 
Presbyterian  congregation  in  this  city,  and  order  that  he  be  put  upon 
the  list  of  the  aforesaid  Presbytery. — Minutes,  1773,  p.  446. 

I.  Resolved,  That  the  appeal  of  the  Presbytery  of  Abingdon  from  the 
decision  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia,  in  the  case  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Glenn, 
be  dismissed,  on  the  ground  that  the  substantial  cause  of  appeal  has 
been  removed  by  the  act  of  that  Presbytery,  in  their  receiving  Mr. 
Glenn,  in  conformity  with  the  decision  of  the  Synod.  The  appeal  was 
accordingly  dismissed. — Minutes,  1822,  p.  55. 

7.  Assembly  refuses  to  make  an  alteration  in  the  Book. 

The  following  overture  from  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  was  received 
and  read,  viz.,  "That  after  the  12th  article  of  the  10th  chapter  of  the 
revised  Form  of  Government,  the  following  be  added  :  XIII.  Every 


114  V. — COURTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

Presbytery  shall  judge  of  the  qualifications  of  its  own  members."     On 
motion, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  inexpedient  to  grant  the  request  contained  in 
this  overture,  or  to  make  any  new  alterations  at  present  in  the  Book  of 
Discipline.— Minutes,  1821,  p.  10. 

8.  Rule  as  to  a  Member  of  an  extinct  Presbytery. 

*The  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  overture  sent  up  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Baltimore,  respecting  the  course  proper  to  be  pursued  by 
a  Presbytery,  when  a  minister,  with  a  certificate  of  good  standing  from 
a  Presbytery  which  has  no  longer  any  existence,  applies  for  admission, 
but  is  supposed  to  be  chargeable  with  some  offence  subsequently  to  the 
date  of  that  certificate,  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted, 
viz.  : 

That  after  the  most  attentive  consideration  of  the  question  presented 
in  said  overture,  it  appears  to  them  that  the  proper  answer  is  embraced 
in  the  following  particulars,  viz. : 

1.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Book  of  Discipline  of  our  Church  expressly 
provides,  that  when  a  minister  shall  be  dismissed  by  one  Presbytery  with 
a  view  to  his  joining  another,  he  shall  always  be  considered  as  remaining 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Presbytery  which  dismissed  him,  until  he 
actually  becomes  a  member  of  another.     In  the  case  stated  in  the  over 
ture,  however,  as  the  dismissing  Presbytery  had  become  extinct,  it  was 
physically  impossible  to  act  according  to  the  letter  of  this  rule.     In 
these  circumstances,  every  principle  of  sound  interpretation  seems  to 
direct  that,  in  ordinary  cases,  the  Presbytery  into  which  admission  is 
sought  should  receive  the  applicant;  and,  if  he  be  charged  with  any 
offence,  conduct  the  process  against  him. 

2.  Nevertheless  it  is  the  privilege  of  every  Presbytery  to  judge  of  the 
character  and  situation  of  those  who  apply  to  be  admitted  into  their  own 
body,  and  unless  they  are  satisfied,  to  decline  receiving  the  same.     A 
Presbytery,  it  is  true,  may  make  an  improper  use  of  this  privilege  j  in 
which  case  the  rejected   applicant  may  appeal  to  the  Synod  or  the  Ge 
neral  Assembly. 

3.  When  any  minister  dismissed  in  good  standing  by  an  extinct  Pres 
bytery  is  charged  with  an  offence  subsequently  to  the  date  of  his  dis 
mission,  the  Presbytery  to  which  he  applies  for  admission  not  only  may, 
if  they  see  cause,  decline  receiving  him ;  but  if  their  own  situation  be 


THE   PRESBYTERY.  115 

such  that  there  is  no  prospect  of  their  being  able  to  conduct  process 
against  him  in  an  impartial  and  efficient  manner,  ought  to  decline  ad 
mitting  him  into  their  body. 

4.  In  this  case,  ministers  dismissed  by  an  extinct  Presbytery,  and  not 
received  into  any  other,  are  to  be  considered  as  under  the  direction  of 
their  proper  Synod,  and  ought  to  be  disposed  of  as  the  Synod  may  order. 
—Minutes,  1825,  pp.  146,  147. 


9.  How  Ministers  and  Licentiates  from  corresponding  Bodies  are  to  l>e 

received. 

The  committee  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1829,  to  con 
sider  and  report  to  the  Assembly  of  1830  on  the  manner  in  which 
ministers  and  licentiates  are  to  be  received  into  any  of  our  Presbyteries 
from  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  the  United  States  which  correspond  with 
this  General  Assembly,  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted, 
viz.  : 

That,  in  their  judgment,  every  licentiate  coming  by  certificate  to  any 
Presbytery  in  connection  with  the  General  Assembly  from  any  portion 
of  a  corresponding  ecclesiastical  body,  should  be  required  to  answer  in 
the  affirmative  the  constitutional  questions,  directed  by  chap,  xiv  of  our 
Form  of  Government  to  be  put  to  our  own  candidates  before  they  are 
licensed ;  and  that,  in  like  manner,  every  ordained  minister  of  the  Gos 
pel,  coming  from  any  church  in  correspondence  with  the  General  Assem 
bly  by  certificate  of  dismission  and  recommendation,  should  be  required 
to  answer  affirmatively  the  first  seven  questions  directed  by  chap,  xv  of 
our  Form  of  Government,  to  be  put  to  one  of  our  own  licentiates  when, 
about  to  be  ordained  to  the  sacred  office. 

The  course  which  is  thus  recommended  by  the  committee,  they  believe,, 
has  been  generally  practised  by  our  Presbyteries ,  and  the  impropriety, 
of  admitting  strangers  into  our  connection  on  other  terms  than  our  own, 
licentiates  and  ministers  is  too  obvious  to  require  remark.  It  is  the 
assent  of  licentiates  and  ministers  to  these  questions  which  brings  them 
under  the  watch  and  care  of  the  Presbyteries  which  receive  them,  and 
without  which  they  ought  not  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  preachers  of  the 
Gospel  in  our  ecclesiastical  connection. — Minutes,  1830,  p.  287. 


116  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

10.  Ministers  dismissed  in  good  standing  should  be  received  on  tlieir 

Testimonials. 

"Resolved,  That  a  due  regard  to  the  order  of  the  Church  and  the 
bonds  of  brotherhood  require,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Assembly,  that 
ministers  dismissed  in  good  standing  by  sister  Presbyteries  should  be 
received  by  the  Presbyteries  which  they  are  dismissed  to  join  upon  the 
credit  of  their  constitutional  testimonials,  unless  they  shall  have  forfeited 
their  good  standing  subsequently  to  their  dismissal." — Minutes,  1834, 
p.  440. 

11.  The  rinlit  of  Presbytery  to  satisfy  itself  of  the  soundness  of  the 

Applicant. 

"Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  General  Assembly,  it  is  the 
right  of  every  Presbytery  to  be  entirely  satisfied  of  the  soundness  in  the 
faith  and  the  good  character  in  every  respect  of  those  ministers  who 
apply  to  be  admitted  into  the  Presbytery  as  members,  and  who  bring 
testimonials  of  good  standing  from  sister  Presbyteries,  or  from  foreign 
bodies  with  whom  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  in  correspondence.  And 
if  there  be  any  reasonable  doubt  respecting  the  proper  qualifications  of 
such  candidates,  notwithstanding  their  testimonials,  it  is  the  right,  and 
may  be  the  duty  of  such  a  Presbytery  to  examine  them,  or  to  take  such 
other  methods  of  being  satisfied  in  regard  to  their  suitable  character  as 
anay  be  judged  proper;  and  if  such  satisfaction  be  not  obtained,  to 
•decline  receiving  them.  In  such  case,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Pres- 
-bytery  rejecting  the  applicant  to  make  known  what  it  has  done  to  the 
Presbytery  from  which  he  came,  with  its  reasons.  It  being  always 
understood,  that  each  Presbytery  is,  in  this  concern,  as  in  all  others, 
responsible  for  its  acts  to  the  higher  judicatories." — Minutes,  1835,  p. 
485. 

12.   Examination  made  imperative  in  all  Cases. 

u  The  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  right  of  Presbyteries  to  examine 
ministers  applying  for  admission,  which  was  adopted  this  morning,  was 
reconsidered,  amended,  and  adopted,  as  follows,  viz. : 

"That  the  constitutional  right  of  every  Presbytery  to  examine  all 
seeking  connection  with  them  was  settled  by  the  Assembly  of  1835. 
(See  Minutes  of  1835,  p.  27.)  And  this  Assembly  now  render  it  impera- 


THE    PRESBYTERY.  117 

live  on  Presbyteries  to  examine  all  who  make  application  for  admission 
into  their  bodies,  at  least  on  experimental  religion,  didactic  and  polemic 
theology,  and  church  government." — Minutes,  1837,  p.  429. 

13.  The  above  Rule  unconstitutional. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  Overture  No.  14,  reported  the 
following  resolution,  which  was  adopted  : 

"  Whereas,  It  is  the  inherent  right  of  Presbyteries  to  expound  and 
apply  constitutional  rules  touching  the  qualification  of  their  own  mem 
bers,  therefore — 

"Resolved,  That  the  action  of  the  last  General  Assembly  (p.  429, 
printed  Minutes),  making  it  imperative  on  the  Presbyteries  to  examine 
all  who  make  application  for  admission  to  their  bodies,  not  excepting 
ministers  coming  from  other  Presbyteries,  is  null  and  void." — Minutes, 
1838,  p.  660. 

14.  Reception  of  Foreign  Ministers  the  Rule. 

[The  original  rule  on  this  subject  may  be  found  in  the  Minutes  for 
1735,  p.  118.  Action  was  also  taken  in  1773,  p.  448,  and  1774,  p. 
455.  In  1784,  the  same  matter  forced  itself  upon  the  notice  of  Synod.] 

"  The  Synod  having  reason,  by  information  given  since  their  present 
meeting,  to  apprehend  the  churches  under  their  care  in  imminent  danger 
from  ministers  and  licensed  candidates  of  unsound  principles  coming 
among  us,  do  hereby  renew  their  former  injunction  to  the  respective 
Presbyteries  within  their  bounds,  relative  to  this  matter,  and  do  also 
strictly  enjoin  on  every  member  of  this  body,  under  pain  of  censure,  to 
be  particularly  careful  in  this  respect.  And  the  stated  clerk  of  the 
Synod  is  hereby  directed  to  furnish  each  of  our  Presbyteries  with  an 
attested  copy  of  the  said  injunctions,  together  with  a  copy  of  this 
minute." — Minutes,  1784,  p.  504. 

[In  1798  (Minutes,  p.  148),  the  Assembly  adopted  "  regulations  in 
tended  to  embrace  and  extend  the  existing  rules."  In  1800,  it  was 
modified  and  amended,  and  is  now  the  rule,  viz. :] 

"  The  draught  of  certain  regulations  respecting  the  admission  of  fo 
reign  ministers  and  licentiates,  reported  by  the  committee  appointed  for 
that  purpose,  was  again  read,  and  having  been  fully  considered  and 
amended,  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 


118  V. — COURTS   OP   THE   CHURCH. 

"  When  any  minister  or  licentiate  from  Europe  shall  come  into  this 
country,  and  desire  to  become  connected  with  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States,  he  may  apply  to  any  committee  appointed  to  direct 
the  services  of  travelling  ministers  and  candidates;  which  committee 
shall  inspect  his  credentials,  and,  by  examination  or  otherwise,  endeavor 
to  ascertain  his  soundness  in  the  faith  and  experimental  acquaintance 
with  religion  ;  his  attainments  in  divinity  and  literature ;  his  moral  and 
religious  character,  and  approbation  of  our  public  standards  of  doctrine 
and  discipline.  If  the  result  shall  be  such  as  to  encourage  further  trial, 
said  committee  may  give  him  appointments  to  supply  and  recommend 
him  to  the  churches  till  the  next  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  to  which 
such  committee  belongs.  It  shall  then  become  the  duty  of  such  minister 
or  licentiate  to  apply  to  that  Presbytery,  or  to  any  other,  in  whose  bounds 
he  may  incline  to  labor;  provided  always,  that  he  make  his  application 
to  the  Presbytery  at  their  first  meeting  after  his  coming  within  their 
bounds ;  and  also,  that  immediately  on  coming  within  the  bounds  of  any 
Presbytery,  he  apply  to  their  committee  to  judge  of  his  certificate  of 
approbation,  and,  if  they  think  it  expedient,  to  make  him  appointments; 
or,  if  it  shall  be  more  convenient,  the  application  may  be  made  to  the 
Presbytery  in  the  first  instance ;  but  it  shall  be  deemed  irregular  for  any 
foreign  minister  or  licentiate  to  preach  in  any  vacant  church  till  he  have 
obtained  the  approbation  of  some  Presbytery  or  committee  of  Presby 
tery,  in  manner  aforesaid. 

"  The  Presbytery  to  which  such  minister  or  licentiate  may  apply,  shall 
carefully  examine  his  credentials,  and  not  sustain  a  mere  certificate  of 
good  standing,  unless  corroborated  by  such  private  letters,  or  other  col 
lateral  testimony,  as  shall  fully  satisfy  them  as  to  the  authenticity  and 
sufficiency  of  his  testimonials.  After  inspecting  any  evidences  of  his 
literary  acquirements  which  may  be  laid  before  them,  the  Presbytery 
shall  enter  into  a  free  conversation  with  him,  in  order  to  discover  his 
soundness  in  the  faith  and  experimental  acquaintance  with  religion.  If 
they  shall  obtain  satisfaction  on  these  several  articles,  they  shall  proceed 
to  examine  him  on  the  learned  languages,  the  arts,  sciences,  theology, 
Church  history  and  government;  nor  shall  they  receive  him,  unless  he 
shall  appear  to  have  made  such  attainments  in  these  several  branches  as 
are  required  of  those  who  receive  their  education  or  pass  their  trials 
among  ourselves.  But  if,  upon  the  whole,  he  appears  to  be  a  person 
worthy  of  encouragement,  and  who  promises  usefulness  in  the  Church, 
they  shall  receive  him  as  a  minister  or  candidate  on  probation,  he  first 


THE   PRESBYTERY.  119 

adopting  our  standards  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  and  promising  subjec 
tion  to  the  Presbytery  in  the  Lord.  During  this  state  of  probation  he 
may  preach  the  Gospel  where  regularly  called,  either  as  a  stated  or  oc 
casional  supply;  and  if  an  ordained  minister,  perform  every  part  of  the 
ministerial  functions,  except  that  he  may  not  vote  in  any  judicatory,  or 
accept  a  call  for  settlement. 

"  If  the  foreigner  who  shall  apply  to  any  Presbytery  or  committee,  as 
aforesaid,  be  an  ordained  minister,  such  committee  and  Presbytery  may, 
at  their  discretion,  dispense  with  the  special  examination  on  literature 
in  this  Act  prescribed,  provided  he  shall  exhibit  satisfactory  evidence 
that  he  has  received  such  education,  and  made  such  progress  in  lan 
guages,  arts,  and  sciences,  as  are  required  by  the  Constitution  of  our 
Church  as  qualifications  for  the  Gospel  ministry.  But  in  all  other  re 
spects,  the  examination  shall  be  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  a  licentiate. 

"  If  from  prospects  of  settlement,  or  greater  usefulness,  a  minister  or 
licentiate  under  probation  in  any  Presbytery,  shall  wish  to  move  into 
the  bounds  of  another,  he  shall  receive  a  dismission,  containing  a  certi 
ficate  of  his  standing  and  character,  from  the  Presbytery  under  whose 
care  he  shall  have  been ;  which  certificate  shall  entitle  him  to  the  same 
standing  in  the  Presbytery  into  whose  bounds  he  shall  come,  except  that 
from  the  time  of  his  coming  under  the  care  of  this  latter  Presbytery,  a 
whole  year  shall  elapse  before  they  come  to  a  final  judgment  respecting 
his  reception. 

"  When  any  foreign  minister  or  licentiate,  received  on  certificate,  or 
pursuant  to  trials  in  any  Presbytery,  shall  have  resided  generally  and 
preached  within  their  bounds  and  under  their  direction,  for  at  least  one 
year,  they  shall  cause  him  to  preach  before  them  (if  they  judge  it  expe 
dient),  and  taking  into  consideration,  as  well  the  evidence  derived  from 
their  former  trials  as  that  which  may  arise  from  his  acceptance  in  the 
churches,  his  prudence,  gravity,  and  godly  conversation,  and  from  the 
combined  evidence  of  the  whole,  determine  either  to  receive  him,  to 
reject  him,  or  to  hold  him  under  further  probation.  •  In  case  of  receiving 
him  at  that,  or  any  subsequent  period,  the  Presbytery  shall  report  the 
same  to  their  Synod  at  its  next  meeting,  together  with  all  the  certificates 
and  other  testimony  on  which  they  received  them  j  or,  if  it  shall  be 
more  convenient,  this  report  may  be  made  to  the  General  Assembly. 
The  said  Assembly  or  Synod,  as  the  case  may  be,  shall  then  inquire  into 
the  proceedings  of  the  Presbytery  in  the  affair,  and  if  they  find  them  to 
have  been  irregular  or  deficient,  they  shall  recommit  them  to  the  Pres- 


120  V. — COURTS   OP   THE   CHURCH. 

bytery,  in  order  to  a  more  regular  and  perfect  process.  But  if  the  pro 
ceedings  had  in  the  Presbytery  appear  to  have  been  conformable  to  this 
regulation,  they  shall  carefully  examine  all  the  papers  laid  before  them 
by  the  Presbytery,  or  which  shall  be  exhibited  by  the  party  concerned, 
and  considering  their  credibility  and  sufficiency,  come  to  a  final  judg 
ment,  either  to  receive  him  into  the  Presbyterian  body,  agreeably  to  his 
standing,  or  to  reject  him. 

"  In  order,  however,  to  facilitate  the  settlement  of  foreign  ministers 
as  soon  as  may  consist  with  the  purity  and  order  of  the  Church,  it  is 
further  ordained,  that  if  the  proper  Synod  or  the  General  Assembly  are 
not  to  meet  within  three  months  after  that  meeting  of  a  Presbytery  at 
which  a  foreign  minister  on  probation  is  expected  to  be  received,  the 
Presbytery  may,  if  they  see  cause,  lay  his  testimonials  before  that  meet 
ing  of  the  Assembly  or  Synod  which  shall  be  held  next  before  said 
meeting  of  the  Presbytery.  If  this  Assembly  or  Synod  shall  approve 
the  testimonials,  they  shall  give  the  Presbytery  such  information  and 
direction  as  the  case  may  require,  and  remit  the  same  to  them  for  final 
issue.  In  all  other  cases,  it  shall  be  deemed  irregular  for  any  Synod  or 
General  Assembly  to  receive  a  foreign  minister  or  licentiate,  until  he 
shall  have  passed  his  period  of  probation,  and  been  received  and  reported 
by  some  Presbytery,  in  manner  aforesaid. 

"No  minister  or  licentiate,  after  being  rejected  by  one  Presbytery, 
shall  be  received  by  another,  or  if  received  through  mistake  or  otherwise, 
he  shall  be  no  longer  countenanced  or  employed,  after  the  imposition  is 
discovered.  If,  however,  any  minister  or  licentiate  shall  think  himself 
aggrieved  by  the  sentence  of  any  Presbytery,  he  shall  have  a  right  to 
carry  the  matter  by  complaint  to  the  proper  Synod,  or  to  the  next  Gene 
ral  Assembly,  giving  notice  thereof  to  the  Presbytery  during  the  meet 
ing  at  which  the  sentence  was  pronounced,  or  at  the  meeting  next  fol 
lowing. 

"  These  regulations  and  provisions  relative  to  the  reception  of  foreign 
ministers  and  licentiates,  are  to  be  considered  as  coming  in  place  of  all 
that  have  heretofore  been  established  on  this  subject;  and  all  judicatures 
and  individuals  under  the  care  of  the  Assembly  are  to  regard  them  ac 
cordingly."—  Minutes,  1800,  pp.  200-202. 

The  Rule  enforced, 
a.  "  The  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  records  of  the  Synod 


THE   PRESBYTERY.  121 

of  Albany,  reported,  and  the  book  was  approved  to  page  177,  excepting 
the  case  of  receiving  a  foreign  licentiate  by  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Law 
rence,  without  laying  their  proceedings  in  the  case  before  the  Synod  or 
General  Assembly/'— Minutes,  1822,  p.  38. 

b.  Overture  No.  4  was  taken  up,  viz.,  an  application  from  the  Pres 
bytery  of  Watertown,  for  leave  to  receive  Mr.  William  Lockhead,  a 
foreign  licentiate,  who,  after  being  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Champlain  for  five  months,  had  been  dismissed  to  the  Presbytery  of 
Watertown,  and  had  been  under  the  care  of  the  latter  Presbytery  since 
the  9th  of  February  last.     The  Presbytery  of  Watertown  requests,  that 
the  Assembly  will  allow  them  to  take  into  the  account,  for  the  term  of 
trial,  the  time  which  Mr.  Lockhead  spent  on  trials  in  th'e  Presbytery  of 
Champlain.     On  this  request  the  Assembly  resolved,  that  the  standing 
rule,  which  requires  that  the  foreign  licentiate  must  spend  a  year  in  the 
Presbytery  to  which  he  is  dismissed,  be  hot  dispensed  with." — Minutes, 
1830,  p.  299. 

Leave  granted  to  count  the  Year  from  the  time  of  his  first  Reception. 

c.  "  The  committee  appointed  on  Overture  No.  14,  from  the  Presby 
tery  of  Elizabethtown,  respecting  the  case  of  Mr.  John  Anderson,  a 
foreign  licentiate,  who,  in  October,  1834,  was  received  under  the  care 
of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  and  in  April  last  transferred  to  the 
Presbytery  of  Elizabethtown, — requesting  that  Mr.  Anderson's  year  of 
probation  may  be  considered  as  commencing  at  the  time  when  he  was 
received  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  reported  as  follows : 

"  After  examining  all  the  documents  put  into  their  hands  respecting 
the  subject,  they  unanimously  recommend  that  the  request  of  the  Pres 
bytery  of  Elizabethtown  be  granted.  This  report  was  accepted  and 
adopted/' — Minutes,  1835,  p.  470. 

15.  Modification  of  the  Rules  Refused. 

"  The  Committee  (on  Polity)  further  report,  an  application  from  the 
Fourth  Presbytery  of  New  York,  for  such  a  modification  of  the  rules  in 
the  Digest  as  will  facilitate  the  reception  of  ministers  from  foreign 
bodies,  with  whom  we  are  on  terms  of  fraternal  correspondence.  The 
committee  can  see  and  appreciate  the  fact,  that,  in  the  great  changes 
which  have  occurred,  bringing  the  ends  of  the  earth  near  together,  in- 


122  V. — COURTS    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

stances  of  seeming  hardship  may  occur;  still,  in  their  judgment,  the 
time  has  not  yet  come,  when  it  is  wise  for  this  Assembly  to  introduce 
the  change  in  our  arrangements  referred  to;  and  they  therefore  recom 
mend  that  no  action  be  taken  by  the  Assembly  in  the  premises." — 
Minutes,  1855,  p.  26. 

II.   OF  ITS   JURISDICTION. 
1.  Jurisdiction  over  Members  non-resident. 

a.  The  Presbytery  of  New  York  represented  to  Synod  that  one  of 
their  members  now  resided  in  the  bounds  of  New  Brunswick  Presby 
tery,  whose  moral  character  labored  under  some  imputations,  and  re 
quested  the  advice  of  the  Synod  as  to  which  of  the  Presbyteries  should 
make  inquiry  into  the  matter;  whereupon  the  Synod  judged  it  to  be  the 
duty  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York. — Minutes,  1786,  p.  495. 

Difficulty  of  process  does  not  relieve  the  Presbytery  of  responsibility. 
Discipline  by  persons  not  organized  under  any  distinctive  form  of 
Church  Government  not  recognized. 

b.  The  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York,  by  overture,  inquire  what  order 
it  would  be  proper  for  them  to  take  with  reference  to  a  member  who  has 
been   excluded  from  Christian  fellowship  by  a  ministerial  Association 
under  the  patronage  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Fo 
reign  Missions,  and  dismissed  from  the  service  of  that  Board  for  immo 
rality,  and  with  whom  a  regular  process  of  discipline  by  the  Presbytery 
is  difficult,  on  account  of  his  distance  from  them  and  from  any  ecclesias 
tical  body  of  our  connection.     The  General  Assembly  reply,  that  the 
ecclesiastical  relations  of  the  individual  in  question  evidently  remain 
unchanged  by  the  action  of  persons  not  organized  under  any  distinct 
form  of  government,  and  especially  not  guided  by  the  principles  of  dis 
cipline  to  which  he  was  subject;  and  the  only  correct  course  for  the 
Presbytery  to  take,  if  they  regard  him  as  a  proper  subject  of  discipline, 
is  to  pursue  precisely  the  forms  of  process  given  in  our  Book  of  Disci 
pline,  however  difficult  or  protracted  the  actual  process  may  be. — Mi 
nutes,  1856,  p.  194. 

A  case  transferred  to  the  Presbytery  in  which  the  party  resides. 

c.  Petitions  from  the  churches  at  Mount  Pleasant  and  Greensburg,  in 


THE    PRESBYTERY.  123 

New  York,  and  from  five  ministers  of  the  Gospel  residing  in  the  vicinity 
of  Mr.  George  Bourne,  requesting  that  Mr.  Bourne  might  be  restored 
to  the  office  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  were  overtured }  and  application  on 
behalf  of  Mr.  Bourne  was  made  by  Dr.  Ely,  that,  on  the  profession  of 
his  penitence,  he  may  be  restored  ;  whereupon,  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  the  case  of  Mr.  George  Bourne  be  referred  to  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York,  in  whose  bounds  he  now  resides ;  and  it  is 
hereby  ordered  that  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  be  furnished,  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Lexington,  with  all  the  documents  relative  to  the  deposi 
tion  of  Mr.  Bourne,  that  they  receive  testimony  as  to  the  character  and 
deportment  of  Mr.  Bourne  since  his  deposition,  and  also  the  evidences 
of  repentance  which  Mr.  Bourne  may  furnish ;  and  it  is  ordered  more 
over,  that  the  said  Presbytery  of  New  York  do  proceed  to  issue  the  case, 
and  either  continue  the  sentence  of  deposition  or  restore  him,  the  said 
Bourne,  to  the  Gospel  ministry,  as  they  may  judge  proper." — Minutes, 
1824,  p.  124. 

The  Presbytery  within  which  a  Minister  resides  may  examine  wit 
nesses,  and  transmit  the  record,  but  may  not  try  him. 

d.  The  Judicial  Committee  also  made  a  statement  in  the  case  of  the 
Rev.  Horace  Belknap,  and  recommended  the  adoption  of  the  following 
resolutions,  which  were  adopted  accordingly,  viz.  : 

Resolved,  1.  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Assembly,  the  resolution  of 
the  last  General  Assembly,*  in  answer  to  Overture  No.  2,  does  not  apply 
to  the  case  of  the  Rev.  Horace  Belknap,  as  referred  by  the  Presbytery 
of  Harmony. 

Resolved,  2.  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Assembly,  the  Presbyteries 
both  of  Harmony  and  Steubenville  appear  to  have  misconceived  the  direc 
tions  as  laid  down  in  chapter  v,  sections  3d  and  4th  of  the  Book  of  Dis 
cipline;  inasmuch  as  those  rules  do  not  transfer  jurisdiction  from  a  Pres 
bytery  to  which  a  minister  belongs  to  the  one  within  whose  bounds  he 
resides,  so  as  to  authorize  the  latter  Presbytery  to  try  such  minister;  but 
only  to  examine  witnesses  in  the  case,  and  transmit  an  authentic  record  of 
the  testimony  to  the  Presbytery  which  made  the  application ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  3.  That  the  Presbytery  of  Harmony  is  at  liberty  to  pursue 
such  a  course  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Belknap  as  the  circumstances  of  the 
case  and  the  good  of  religion  shall,  in  their  opinion,  require. — Minutes, 
1831,  p.  339.' 

*  See  3,  6,  page  124 ;  Reference  for  Advice  from  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Lawrence. 


124  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

2.    The  proper  Court  to  try  Ruling  Elders  in  a  given  case. 

The  following  question  from  the  Presbytery  of  Genesee  was  presented 
by  the  Committee  of  Overtures,  viz. : 

"  Common  fame  accuses  two  ruling  elders  of  a  church  [they  being  the 
only  acting  elders]  of  unchristian  conduct,  which  took  place  several  years 
ago,  but  which  has  lately  been  made  known  to  the  Presbytery  with  which 
said  church  is  connected.  What  is  the  duty  of  the  Presbytery  in  the 
case  ?" 

Resolved,  That  the  Presbytery  is  the  competent  court  to  try  these  two 
elders,  and  that  it  is  their  duty  to  cite  the  offending  persons  before 
them,  and  proceed  to  issue  the  case. — Minutes,  1825,  pp.  142,  144. 

3.  Ministers  withdrawing  from  Presbytery  irregularly,  to  le  stricken 
from  the  roll. 

a.  Overture  No.  5,  viz. :  A  reference  from  the  Presbytery  of  Che- 
nango,  asking  advice  in  the  case  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Andrews,  a  member 
of  their  body,  who  has  recently  withdrawn  and  received  Episcopal  ordi 
nation,  was  taken  up  and  committed  to  Mr.  Crothers,  Mr.  Weed,  and 
Mr.  Farrand. — Minutes,  1828,  p.  239. 

The  committee  on  the  reference  from  the  Chenango  Presbytery,  in 
the  case  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Andrews,  made  the  following  report,  which 
was  adopted,  viz. : 

Resolved,  as  the  sense  of  this  Assembly,  that  though  the  conduct  of 
Mr.  Andrews  was  disorderly,  it  be  recommended  to  the  Presbytery  to  do 
nothing  further  in  the  case  than  simply  to  strike  his  name  from  the  list 
of  their  members. — Minutes,  1828,  p.  240. 

b.  "  The  Committee  on  Overture  No.  2,  viz.,  a  reference  for  advice 
from  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Lawrence,  reported  the  following  resolution 
as  a  suitable  answer  to  be  given  in  the  case,  which  was  adopted,  viz. : 

"  Resolved,  That  when  a  minister  otherwise  in  good  standing  gives 
notice  in  form  to  the  Presbytery  to  which  he  belongs,  that  he  renounces 
the  fellowship  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  or  by  neglecting  to  attend 
the  meetings  of  its  judicatorics  after  being  dealt  with  for  such  neglect, 
gives  evidence  that  he  has  done  so  in  fact,  his  name  ought  to  be  struck 
from  the  roll  of  membership,  a  notice  of  this  procedure  communicated 
to  the  disowned  member,  and,  if  necessary,  published  to  the  Church. 
The  congregation  under  the  care  of  such  minister  ought  to  be  held  as 


THE   PRESBYTERY.  125 


still  under  the  care  of  Presbytery,  unless  they  give  evidence  that  they 
also  have  withdrawn,  in  which  case  their  name  ought  also  to  be  struck 
from  the  list  of  congregations  belonging  to  the  Presbytery." — Minutes, 
1830,  p.  305. 

c.  Resolved^  That  it  be  recommended  to  majorities  of  church  Sessions 
and  Presbyteries  to  take  no  other  action  in  relation  to  members  who 
have  left  them  to  join  other  ecclesiastical  bodies  not  in  connection  with 
us,  than  to  strike  their  names  from  the  roll. — Minutes,  1839,  p.  24. 

4.   Ministers  withdrawing  from  the  work  of  the  Ministry  to  be  ques 
tioned  as  to  their  reasons. 

"  When  ministers  have  withdrawn,  or  may  hereafter  withdraw,  wholly 
or  in  part,  from  the  work  of  the  ministry,  it  is  enjoined  upon  the  Pres 
byteries  to  which  they  belong  to  require  of  such  ministers  their  reasons 
for  so  doing,  which  reasons  are  to  be  put  upon  record  by  the  Presbytery, 
with  an  expression  of  their  approbation  or  disapprobation  of  the  same." 
— Minutes,  1834,  p.  450. 

5.  A  Minister  who  has  icithdrawn  must  return  to  his  own  Presbytery. 

"  Mr.  David  Austin,  who  had  been  formerly  a  member  of  the  Presby 
tery  of  New  York,  and  had  withdrawn  from  the  Presbytery  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  appeared  before  the  Assembly,  and  renewed  his 
request  of  last  year,  to  be  again  received  into  ministerial  communion  and 
regular  standing  in  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  Mr.  Austin,  having  been  fully  heard  in  support  of  his  petition,  with 
drew  j  when  the  Assembly,  after  maturely  considering  the  case, — • 

"Resolved,  That,  as  it  would  be  disorderly  for  this  Assembly  to 
restore  Mr.  Austin  to  his  standing  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
form  in  which  it  is  sought  by  him,  inasmuch  as  he  withdrew  from  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York,  against  whom  he  makes  no  complaint,  and  to 
whom  of  course  he  ought  to  apply;  so  this  Assembly,  in  the  course  of 
the  discussion  had  on  the  subject  of  Mr.  Austin's  application,  have  had 
before  them  sufficient  evidence  that  it  is  inexpedient  at  present  to 
recommend  his  reception  by  any  judicature  of  this  Church." — Minutes, 
1802,  p.  238. 

6.  Leave  to  prosecute  Heretics  within  their  Bounds  refused. 
Overture  No.  13,  being  a  proposition  from  the  Presbytery  of  West 


126  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

Lexington  and  Louisville,  to  the  Assembly,  to  authorize  them  to  prose 
cute  ministers  of  other  Presbyteries  who  may  preach  heresy  within  their 
bounds,  was  taken  up  and  read :  Whereupon,  it  was  resolved,  that  the 
Constitution  in  sections  2,  3,  or  4,  of  chap,  v,  of  the  Book  of  Discipline, 
contains  sufficient  provision  on  the  subject  overtured. — Minutes.,  1834, 
p.  476. 

7.  Jurisdiction  over  a  deposed  Minister  is  in  the  Presbytery  which 
deposed  him. 

[The  Presbytery  of  Des  Moines  deposed  Rev.  James  H.  Shields  from 
the  ministry.  Subsequently,  Mr.  Shields  applied  for  restoration  to  the 
Presbytery  of  Keokuk,  within  whose  bounds  he  resided  at  the  time  of 
his  application.] 

The  Committee  on  Polity  also  reported  Paper  No.  2.  An  Overture 
from  the  Presbytery  of  Keokuk,  asking  if  they  have  jurisdiction  over 
the  case  of  James  H.  Shields,  deposed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Des  Moines. 

The  committee  recommended  to  the  Assembly,  that  the  question  sub 
mitted  by  the  Presbytery  of  Keokuk  be  answered  in  the  negative;  and 
the  recommendation  was  adopted. — Minutes,  1859,  p.  18. 

8.  A  Minister,  holdiny   a  Letter  of  Dismission,  is   a  Member  of  the 
Presbytery  dismissing  him  until  received  by  another  Body. 

[Overture  to  the  Synod  of  Ohio.  When  a  member  of  Presbytery  has 
taken  a  letter  to  join  another  Presbytery  or  association,  what  relation 
does  he  sustain  to,  and  what  rights  and  privileges  has  he  in  the  Presby 
tery  from  which  he  received  the  letter,  during  the  time  that  intervenes 
between  receiving  the  letter  and  uniting  with  that  other  Presbytery  or 
consociation  ? 

Answer  by  the  Synod  of  Ohio.  It  is  often  a  fact  that  dismissions  are 
granted  during  the  sessions  of  a  Presbytery,  to  take  effect  at  its  close. 
This  fact  decides  that  in  all  ordinary  cases  all  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  an  individual  in  a  Presbytery  cease  the  moment  his  request  for  a  dis 
mission  is  granted.  He  may,  however,  at  any  time  before  he  has  used 
it,  return  his  letter,  and  then  claim  all  his  former  rights  and  privileges ; 
but  until  he  has  used  his  letter,  he  is  amenable  to  the  Presbytery.  See 
Form  of  Government,  chap,  x,  sec.  1,  2. — Minutes,  Synod  of  Ohio,  p. 
225.] 


THE    PRESBYTERY.  127 

The  Committee  on  the  Records  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio  reported,  and 
their  report  was  adopted,  recommending  the  approval  of  the  Records  as 
far  as  written,  with  the  following  exception  : 

That  the  answer  to  the  question  contained  in  Paper  No.  2,  p.  225, 
should  be  :  "  He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  until  he  is  received  by 
another  body/'  See  I.  S.— Minutes,  1860,  p.  239. 


III. — DISMISSION  OP  MEMBERS. 

1.  Presbytery  must  specify  the  Body  to  which  a  Member  is  dismissed. 

Resolved,  That,  whereas  it  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  govern 
ment  and  discipline  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  that  every  minister  of 
the  Gospel  belonging  to  it  be  subject,  at  all  times,  to  his  brethren  in  the 
Lord,  and  accountable  to  them  for  the  orthodoxy  of  his  principles,  and 
for  his  moral,  religious,  and  orderly  deportment;  it  is  therefore — 

"  Ordered,  That  every  Presbytery  under  the  care  of  this  Assembly, 
whenever  they  dismiss  a  member,  be  careful  particularly  to  specify  with 
what  Presbytery,  association,  or  classis,  or  other  religious  body,  he  is  to 
be  associated  after  his  dismission  (to  which  some  of  the  Presbyteries  do 
not  appear  to  have  been  sufficiently  attentive) ;  and  that  every  member 
so  dismissed  be,  in  all  cases,  considered  as  amenable  to  the  Presbytery 
which  has  dismissed  him  till  he  shall  become  connected  with  the  eccle 
siastical  body  which  he  shall  have  been  directed  to  join/' — Minutes, 
1806,  p.  351. 


2.  May  not  dismiss  l>y  a  Standing  Committee. 

"  The  report  of  the  committee  on  the  reference  from  the  Presbytery 
of  Cayuga,  relative  to  the  constitutionality  of  a  rule  of  that  body,  which 
had  been  laid  on  the  table,  was  taken  up.  The  rule  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Cayuga,  referred  to  the  Assembly,  is  as  follows,  viz. :  The  moderator  for 
the  time  being,  and  the  stated  clerk  ex  officio,  were  appointed  a  com 
mittee  to  grant  letters  of  dismission  to  ministers  without  charge,  and  to 
licentiates  and  candidates  under  the  care  of  this  Presbytery,  to  unite 
with  other  Presbyteries ;  and  were  directed  to  report  at  each  stated 
meeting." 

In  relation  to  this  rule,  the  following  resolution  reported  by  the  com 
mittee  was  adopted,  viz. : 


128  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"Resolved,  That  the  rule  hitherto  acted  upon  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Cayuga  is  inexpedient  and  unconstitutional." — Minutes,  1830,  p.  302. 

3.  Where  Sentence  has  been  reversed,  and  Process  is  not  commenced 
anew  within  a  certain  time,  a  Member  may  claim  a  Dismission  in 
good  standing. 

The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  minute  expressive  of  the  sense 
of  the  Assembly,  concerning  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Joseph  E.  Bell,  reported 
the  following  resolutions,  which  were  adopted,  viz. : 

"  1.  Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Assembly,  Mr.  Bell  was, 
and  still  continues  to  be,  fully  amenable  to  the  Presbytery  of  Concord. 

"2.  That,  while  the  Assembly  do  not  wish  to  protect  the  guilty,  they 
do  judge  that  great  caution,  deliberation,  and,  as  far  as  may  be,  the  rules 
of  discipline,  where  ministerial  character  is  impeached,  ought  to  be 
strictly  observed,  and  that  in  this  case  the  informality  was  exceptionable. 

"  3.  That  if  it  be  deemed  necessary  for  the  good  of  religion,  and  the 
honor  of  the  ministerial  character,  the  Presbytery  of  Concord  are  entirely 
competent  to  commence  a  new  trial.  Or  if  Mr.  Bell  shall  desire,  for  his 
own  sake,  a  new  trial,  the  door  is  still  open. 

"  4.  That  in  the  mean  time  Mr.  Bell's  ministerial  standing  shall  be 
considered  regular;  and  if  no  process  shall  be  commenced  by  either  party 
within  the  space  of  six  months,  from  the  1st  of  June  next,  then  Mr. 
Bell  may  claim  from  the  Presbytery  of  Concord  a  dismission  declaring 
him  to  be  in  regular  standing." — Minutes,  1828,  pp.  240,  241. 


IV.  —  BOUNDARIES  or  PRESBYTERIES. 

1.  Presbyteries  should  have  Geographical  Boundaries. 

a.  "A  Presbytery  consists  of  all  the  ministers  and  one  ruling  elder 
from  each  congregation,  within  a  certain  district."     Form  of  Govern 
ment,  chap,  ix,  sec.  2. — Minutes,  1816,  p.  615. 

b.  "Resolved,  That,  except  in  very  extraordinary  cases,  this  Assem 
bly  are  of  the  opinion  that  Presbyteries  ought  to  be  formed  with  geo 
graphical  limits." — Minutes,  1834,  p.  441. 

2.  Elective  Affinity  condemned. 
"Resolved,   That  the   erection  of  Church  courts,  and  especially  of 


THE   PRESBYTERY.  129 

Presbyteries  and  Synods,  on  the  principle  of  '  elective  affinity/  that  is, 
judicatories  not  bounded  by  geographical  limits,  but  having  a  chief  re 
gard  in  their  erection  to  diversities  of  doctrinal  belief,  and  of  ecclesias 
tical  policy,  is  contrary  both  to  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  our  Constitu 
tion,  and  opens  a  wide  door  for  mischiefs  and  abuses  of  the  most  serious 
kind.  One  such  Presbytery,  if  so  disposed,  might,  in  process  of  time, 
fill  the  whole  Church  with  unsound  and  schismatic  ministers,  especially 
if  the  principle  were  adopted  that  regular  testimonials  must  of  course 
secure  the  admission  of  those  who  bore  them  into  any  other  Presbytery. 
Such  a  Presbytery,  moreover,  being  without  geographical  bounds,  might 
enter  the  limits  and  disturb  the  repose  of  any  church  into  which  it  might 
think  proper  to  intrude;  and  thus  divide  churches,  stir  up  strife,  and 
promote  party  spirit  and  schism,  with  all  their  deplorable  consequences. 
Surely  a  plan  of  procedure  in  the  Church  of  God  which  naturally  and 
almost  unavoidably  tends  to  produce  such  effects  as  these,  ought  to  be 
frowned  upon,  and  as  soon  as  possible  terminated  by  the  supreme  judi- 
catory  of  the  Church."— Minutes,  1835,  p.  486. 

3 .  Exceptions  permitted. 

a.  "  The  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  petition  of  Union 
Presbytery  (Overture  No.  3)  made  the  following  report,  which  was 
adopted,  viz. : 

"  The  petition  of  the  Presbytery  states,  that  the  missionaries  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  laboring  among 
the  Cherokee  Indians,  have  organized  a  number  of  churches  according 
to  the  order  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States;  that 
these  churches  have  been  for  the  most  part  taken  under  care  of  the 
Union  Presbytery,  although  some  of  the  churches  are  within  the  terri 
torial  limits  of  other  Presbyteries ;  that  this  measure  was  adopted  on 
the  presumption  that  no  other  judicatory  of  the  Church  would  object  to 
it ;  especially  as  the  missionaries  and  their  churches  united  with  the 
Presbyterian  body,  on  condition  that  they  should  be  permitted  to  con 
nect  themselves  with  the  Presbyteries  that  might  be  most  agreeable  to 
the  natives,  and  most  convenient  to  the  missionaries.  On  this  statement 
the  Union  Presbytery  founds  a  petition  that  the  General  Assembly 
'  would  give  liberty  to  the  missionaries  and  churches  in  the  Cherokee 
nation,  to  unite  to  such  adjacent  Presbyteries  as  may  be  most  agreeable 
to  themselves.'  Whereupon, 

9 


130  v. — COURTS  or  THE  CHURCH. 

"Resolved,  That  the  request  herein  made  be  granted;  and  the  several 
Presbyteries  to  which  the  missionaries  and  churches  aforesaid  may  unite 
themselves,  are  directed  to  report  the  names  of  ministers  and  number  of 
communicants  thus  received  to  each  future  General  Assembly;  it  being 
understood  that  in  all  other  respects  the  said  ministers  and  churches 
shall  submit  to  the  government  and  order  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." — 
Minutes,  1826,  p.  181. 

Z>.  "  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  memorial  from  the 
Synod  of  West  Tennessee,  complaining  of  the  Assembly  of  1826,  be 
cause  they  admitted  the  verbal  testimony  of  a  delegate  to  set  aside  a 
written  document  from  the  Synod  of  Tennessee,  and  on  that  account,  in 
dividing  the  Synod,  granted  them  only  a  part  of  their  request ;  com 
plaining  also  of  the  privilege  granted  by  the  Assembly  to  the  mission 
aries  among  the  Cherokees,  as  found  in  the  printed  Minutes  of  1826, 
pages  21,  24,  and  27,  and  requesting  that  the  privilege  there  referred 
to  may  be  rescinded  5  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted, 
viz.  : 

"  1.  That  it  does  not  appear,  either  from  the  Minutes  of  the  Assem 
bly,  or  from  the  memorial,  what  part,  if  any,  of  the  request  of  the  Synod 
of  Tennessee  was  refused  to  be  granted.  The  Assembly,  therefore,  can 
grant  no  relief  till  the  grievance  be  specified  and  understood. 

"  2.  That  in  regard  to  the  privilege  granted  to  the  Cherokee  mission 
aries  to  join  such  Presbyteries  as  should  be  most  convenient  and  agree 
able  to  themselves,  the  Assembly  do  not  perceive  any  particular  griev 
ance,  either  to  the  missionaries,  or  to  the  Synod  of  West  Tennessee ; 
yet,  as  it  seems  to  have  given  some  dissatisfaction,  and  is  out  of  the  usual 
course,  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  aforesaid  Act,  contained  on  page  27  of  the 
printed  Minutes  of  1826,  be  rescinded,  and  that  the  missionaries  be, 
and  they  hereby  are  directed,  to  connect  themselves  with  those  Presby 
teries  within  whose  territorial  bounds  they  may  reside." — Minutes,  1828, 
pp.  246,  247. 

c.  "  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  representation  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Union,  touching  the  ecclesiastical  connection  of  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Daniel  S.  Buttrick  and  Samuel  A.  Worcester,  missionaries 
among  the  Cherokee  Indians,  with  said  Presbytery,  and  stating  the 
grounds  on  which  they  request  the  continuance  of  said  connection, 
having  taken  the  said  document  into  serious  consideration,  beg  leave 
respectfully  to  recommend  to  this  General  Assembly  the  adoption  of  the 
following  resolution,  viz.  : 


THE   PRESBYTERY.  131 

"Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  General  Assembly,  the  pecu 
liar  circumstances  in  which  the  said  missionaries  are  placed,  renders  the 
request  now  under  consideration  reasonable  and  proper;  and  to  the  end 
that  the  object  thereof  may  with  all  practicable  expedition  be  effectually 
secured,  this  General  Assembly  do  hereby  ratify  and  confirm  such 
friendly  and  amicable  arrangement  as  may  hereafter  be  made  between 
the  Presbyteries  of  Hopewell  and  Union  for  this  purpose." — Minutes, 
1829,  p.  259. 

d.  li  Overture  No.  2,  from  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati,  touching  the 
condition  of  certain  churches  in  Kentucky,  seeking  connection  with  us. 
The  committee  recommend  that,  for  the  present,  such  churches  be  al 
lowed  to  connect  themselves  with  the  Presbyteries  contiguous,  most  to 
their  convenience.  The  report  was  adopted/' — Minutes,  1859,  p.  17. 

c.  "  No.  3.  A  memorial  from  Rev.  Benjamin  Mills  and  others,  of 
the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  with  respect  to  himself  and  others,  formerly 
members  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  expressive  of  their  attachment  to 
us,  and  their  desire  to  return  to  our  connection,  if,  with  their  views  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  the  way  may  be  open  to  receive  them.  The 
committee  recommend,  that  these  ministers  and  churches,  and  others 
similarly  situated,  be  referred  to  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati  or  any 
other  border  Presbytery;  and  that  such  Presbyteries  be  authorized  so  to 
extend  their  jurisdiction  as  to  receive  any  such  ministers  and  churches, 
situated  near  their  borders,  whose  principles  and  practice  are  found  to 
harmonize  with  the  position  of  the  Church,  as  expressed  and  published 
to  the  world  by  former  Assemblies/' — Minutes,  1859,  p.  18. 

Adopted. 

4.   Ministers  Living  out  of  the  Bounds  of  their  Presbyteries. 

11  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  an  overture  from  the  Synod 
of  Albany,  in  regard  to  non-resident  members  of  Presbyteries,  made  the 
following  report,  which  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"  In  conformity  with  the  overture  from  the  Synod  of  Albany,  the 
committee  would  recommend  to  the  Assembly  the  adoption  of  the  fol 
lowing  resolution,  viz. : 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  enjoined  on  the  Presbyteries  to  inquire  care 
fully  in  regard  to  any  of  their  members,  who  may  be  residing  without 
the  bounds  of  their  respective  Presbyteries,  whether  there  be  sufficient 
cause  for  such  non-residence;  and  if  not,  that  measures  be  taken  to 


132  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

transfer  the  relation  of  such  ministers  to  the  Presbyteries  in  the  bounds 
of  which  they  reside."— Minutes,  1836,  p.  272. 


5.    One  Presbytery  may  not  Dismiss  a  Church  to  another,  ivithout  the 
Approbation  of  Synod. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  unconstitutional  for  a  Presbytery  to  dismiss  a 
congregation  under  their  care,  and  for  any  other  Presbytery  to  receive 
the  congregation  so  dismissed,  without  the  approbation  of  the  Synod  to 
which  such  Presbyteries  respectively  belong.'7 — Minutes,  1823,  p.  91. 


V. — MISCELLANEOUS  DECISIONS. 

1.  Presbytery  to  inquire  into  tlie  Fidelity  of  its  Members. 

The  Synod  does  recommend  unanimously  to  all  our  Presbyteries  to 
take  effectual  care  that  each  of  their  ministers  are  faithful  in  the  dis 
charge  of  their  awful  trust;  and  in  particular,  that  they  frequently 
examine,  with  respect  to  each  of  their  members,  into  their  life  and  con 
versation,  their  diligence  in  their  work,  and  their  methods  of  discharging 
their  ministerial  calling;  particularly,  that  each  Presbytery  do,  at  least 
once  a  year,  examine  into  the  manner  of  each  minister's  preaching : 
whether  he  insists  in  his  ministry  upon  the  great  articles  of  Christianity, 
and,  in  the  course  of  his  preaching,  recommends  a  crucified  Saviour  to 
his  hearers  as  the  only  foundation  of  hope,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of 
the  Omnipotent  influences  of  Divine  grace  to  enable  them  to  accept  of 
this  Saviour;  whether  he  do,  in  the  most  solemn  and  affecting  manner 
he  can,  endeavor  to  convince  his  hearers  of  their  lost  and  miserable  state 
whilst  unconverted,  and  put  them  upon  the  diligent  use  of  those  means 
necessary  in  order  to  obtaining  the  sanctifying  influences  of  the  Spirit  of 
God ;  whether  he  do,  and  how  he  doth,  discharge  his  duties  towards  the 
young  people  and  children  of  his  congregation,  in  a  way  of  catechising 
and  familiar  instruction ;  whether  he  do,  and  in  what  manner  he  doth, 
visit  his  flock,  and  instruct  them  from  house  to  house. 

And  the  Synod  hereby  orders,  that  a  copy  of  this  minute  be  inserted 
into  the  books  of  each  of  our  Presbyteries,  and  be  read  at  every  of  their 
Presbyterial  meetings,  and  a  record  of  its  being  read  minuted  in  said 


THE   PRESBYTERY.  133 

books  at  the  beginning  of  every  session  ;  and  that  there  be  also  an  annual 
record  in  each  Presbytery  book  of  a  correspondence  with  this  minute. 

And  in  case  any  minister  within  our  bounds  shall  be  found  defective 
in  any  of  the  above-mentioned  cases,  he  shall  be  subject  to  the  censure 
of  the  Presbytery  \  and  if  he  refuse  subjection  to  such  censure,  the  Pres 
bytery  are  hereby  directed  to  represent  his  case  to  the  next  Synod. 

And  the  Synod  recommends  to  each  of  the  ministers  within  our 
bounds  to  be  as  much  in  catechetical  doctrines  as  they  in  prudence 
may  think  proper. — Minutes,  1734,  p.  111. 

2.  A  Presbytery,  organized  without  the  Act  of  Synod,  recognized. 

Mr.  Judd,  from  the  Committee  of  Elections,  made  a  report  in  relation 
to  the  commissioners  from  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover,  which  was  con- 
sidefed  and  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

After  a  full  investigation  of  the  facts  in  reference  to  the  case  of  the 
llev.  A.  D.  Pollock,  and  Mr.  James  Caskie,  elder,  commissioners  to 
this  Assembly  from  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover,  the  committee  have 
come  to  the  following  results,  viz. : 

1.  That,  as  a  majority  of  the  Presbytery  of  East  Hanover  had  declared 
their  adherence  to  a  body  claiming  to  be  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  which,  by  its  palpable  violations  of  the  Constitu 
tion  of  said  Church,  had  forfeited   all   claim   to  the  appellation,  the 
minority  might  have  retained    the   name  of  the   Presbytery  of  East 
Hanover. 

2.  Since  they  forbore  to  do  this  from  courtesy  to  their  brethren  of 
the  majority,  and  peaceably  retired  and  assumed  the  name  of  the  Pres 
bytery  of  Hanover,  without  the  agency  of  Synod,  this  deviation  from  the 
ordinary  usages  of  our  Church  ought  not,  in  their  peculiar  circumstances, 
to  invalidate  their  organization. 

3.  The  committee  therefore  recommend  the  recognition  by  this  As 
sembly  of  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  as  a  constituent  part  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church  in  these  United  States ;  the  enrolment  of  the  names  of 
said  commissioners  on  the  list  of  its  members ;   and  that  this  Assembly 
determine  the  Synodical  relations  of  said  Presbytery. — Minutes,  1839, 
p.  9. 

3.   Where  Majorities  have  withdraivn,  duty  of  the  Minority. 
a.  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  ministers,  where  majorities 


134  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

have  left,  to  continue  their  ecclesiastical  organizations  as  before,  if  in 
sufficient  numbers;  and  if  not,  to  connect  themselves  with  the  ecclesi 
astical  bodies  most  convenient  to  their  locality  and  circumstances  which 
adhere  to  this  General  Assembly. — Minutes,  1839,  p.  24. 

b.  Also,  No.  8,  "  An  inquiry  by  a  commissioner  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Ottawa,  whether,  if  a  majority  of  a  Presbytery  withdraw  from  the 
General  Assembly,  the  remaining  members,  if  sufficient  in  point  of 
numbers,  are  to  be  regarded  as  the  Constitutional  Presbytery?" 

Answered  in  the  affirmative. — Minutes,  1850,  p.  320. 

4.  Resolutions  excluding  Slaveholders  unconstitutional. 

"  Whereas,  It  appears  from  memorials  sent  up  to  this  Assembly,  that 
several  of  our  Presbyteries  have  adopted  resolutions  excluding  slave 
holders  from  their  pulpits,  and  from  their  communion  :  And  whereas, 
Our  Constitution  requires  that  no  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
shall  be  thus  disfranchised  without  a  regular  trial  and  conviction :  And 
ivhereas,  This  proceeding  is  a  repetition  of  the  exscinding  acts  of  the 
New  Basis  Assembly,  against  which  we  have  taken  our  stand  as  friends 
of  the  Constitution ;  therefore — 

"Resolved,  That  the  said  Presbyteries  be  requested  to  rescind  such 
resolutions. 

"The  foregoing  resolution  was,  with  one  dissenting  voice,  adopted." 
—Minutes,  1840,  p.  24. 

5.  Church  Covenants  belong  to  Presbyteries  and  Synods. 

Overture  from  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  and  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Pittsburg,  "  On  Church  Covenants/'  requesting  the  As 
sembly  to  take  order  in  reference  to  some  uniform  mode  and  formula  of 
receiving  members  into  our  churches,  [the  committee]  recommend  the 
following  answer : 

"  That  it  is  inexpedient  for  the  Assembly  to  attempt  such  a  measure, 
however  desirable  it  is  to  have  uniformity ;  but  that  it  more  properly 
belongs  to  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods.  Adopted." — Minutes,  1851, 
p.  15. 

6.  Two  Clerical  Members  not  a  Quorum. 

The  Records  of  the  Synod  of  Genesee  were  approved,  with  the  follow 
ing  exception,  viz. : 


THE   SYNOD.  135 

"  The  Synod  made  two  clerical  members  of  Presbytery  a  quorum  for 
transacting  business." — Minutes,  1857,  p.  387. 


SECTION  3. — OF  THE  SYNOD. 

The  Synod  is  a  convention  of  Bishops  and  Elders. — 2.  Where  a  Synod  has 
failed  to  meet  on  its  adjournment,  the  Moderator  may  fix  the  time  and  place. 
— 3.  Special  or  called  meetings  of  Synod  are  constitutional. — 4.  The  Mode 
rator  has  no  power  to  change  the  place  of  meeting. — 5.  A  Synod  may  not 
refuse  the  members  of  its  Presbyteries. — Nor,  6.  Order  the  erasure  of  their  names 
from  the  roll  of  Presbytery. — 7.  The  Synod  may  not  act  judicially  when  there 
is  no  reference  or  appeal  to  it. — 8.  The  Records  are  to  be  sent  up  annually  for 
review. — 9.  The  members  of  an  inferior  Judicatory  may  not  vote  on  the  approval 
of  their  own  Minutes. — 10.  When  exceptions  are  taken  to  the  records  of  inferior 
Judicatories,  the  exceptions  should  be  stated  and  the  reasons  assigned. — 11. 
Sessions  on  the  Sabbath  censured. — 12.  The  Records  should  state  the  body  to 
which  a  corresponding  member  belongs. — 13.  The  Records  should  state  that  the 
meetings  were  opened  and  closed  with  prayer. — 14.  The  Minutes  should  be 
read  and  approved. — 15.  They  should  be  attested  by  the  stated  clerk. — 10.  A 
narrative  of  the  State  of  Religion  should  be  prepared  and  recorded. — 17.  Names 
of  absentees  should  be  recorded. — 18.  Reasons  called  for;  and  absentees  not 
to  be  suspended  without  trial. — 19.  Formation  of  the  Synods,  1—38. 


1.  The  Synod  is  a  Convention  of  BisJiops  and  Elders. 

"  As  a  Presbytery  is  a  convention  of  the  Bishops  and  Elders  within 
a  certain  district,  so  a  Synod  is  the  convention  of  several  Presbyteries 
within  a  larger  district,  including  at  least  three  Presbyteries." — Form  of 
Government,  chap,  xi,  sec.  1,  1789.  Amended,  1804-5,  so  as  to  read 
as  at  present :  "  So  a  Synod  is  a  convention  of  the  Bishops  and  Elders 
within  a  larger  district  including  several  Presbyteries." — Minutes,  1804, 
p.  304. 

Approved  by  the  Presbyteries. — Minutes,  1805,  p.  333. 

"  This  amendment  goes  to  make  a  Synod  consist  not  of  Presbyteries, 
but,  as  it  ought,  of  Bishops  and  Elders." — Note,  Minutes,  1804,  p.  304. 


2.   Where  a  Synod  has  failed  to  meet  on  its  Adjournment.    The  Remedy. 

"  As  it  appeared  from  the  representations  of  ministers  and  elders 
assembled  at  Yorktown,  the  20th  of  October,  1795,  and  signed  Robert 


136  V. — COURTS   OP   THE   CHURCH. 

Davidson,  that  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  did  not  meet  according  to  its 
last  adjournment,  nor  since  the  time  to  which  it  was  adjourned.  On 
motion, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Moderator  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Davidson,  ought  to  be  considered  as  competent  to  call  a 
meeting  of  the  same,  and  that  he  do  accordingly  call  a  meeting,  to  be 
held  in  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on 
the  fourth  Wednesday  of  October  next ;  and  that  he  give  due  notice 
thereof  by  a  circular  letter  to  the  Moderators  of  the  several  Presbyteries 
composing  the  said  Synod,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  acquaint  the  other 
members. 

"  Resolved,  as  the  opinion  of  the  Assembly,  That  from  the  nature  of 
the  thing,  two  or  more  members  of  any  judicatory,  meeting  according  to 
adjournment,  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day  until  a  sufficient  number  at 
tend  for  the  transacting  of  business;  and  in  case  a  quorum  should  not 
attend  within  a  reasonable  time,  that  the  Moderator  shall  be  considered 
as  competent  to  fix  any  time  and  place  he  may  judge  proper  for  con 
vening  the  body;  and  if  he  be  absent,  that  the  members  assembled  shall 
represent  the  matter  speedily  to  him  that  he  may  act  accordingly." — 
Minutes y  179G,  p.  113. 

3.  Meetings  pro  re  nata  constitutional. 

a.  The  Committee  of  Overtures  also  reported  Overture  No.  13.     This 
overture  was  taken  up,  and  is  as  follows,  viz.  :  "  An  answer  is  requested 
to  the  following  question,  viz.,  Has  the  Moderator  of  a  Synod  a  right  to 
call  a  meeting  of  the  Synod  during  the  interval  of  its  stated  sessions  ?" 

Resolved,  by  the  Assembly,  That  this  question  be  answered  in  the 
affirmative.— Minu tcs,  1829,  p.  268. 

b.  The  Assembly  took  up  the  protest  and  complaint  of  a  minority  of 
the  Synod  of  Virginia,  against  a  decision  of  said  Synod  in  favor  of  call 
ing  meetings  of  Synod.     The  complainants  and  Synod  were  heard,  after 
which  it  was  resolved  that  the  complaint  be  not  sustained. — Minutes, 
1832,  p.  368. 

c.  The  Committee  on  the  Records  of  the  Synod  of  Tennessee  reported, 
that  after  a  careful  examination  of  said  Records,  they  find  them  correct; 
and  the  attention  of  the  committee  having  been  called  to  the  report  of 
a  committee  of  the  Synod  of  Tennessee,  relating  to  the  constitutionality 
of  a  called  meeting  of  said  Synod,  convened  in  accordance  with  a  de- 


il 


THE    SYNOD.  137 

claratory  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
in  1796,  and  found  on  page  321  of  the  Digest  published  in  1820,  after 
a  careful  examination  of  the  whole  subject,  they  recommend  the  follow 
ing  action  in  the  case  :  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  General  Assembly, 
the  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Tennessee  at  Knoxville,  in  said  State,  on 
the  9th  day  of  November,  was  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  Assembly  do  so  declare.  The  report 
was  adopted. — Minutes,  1855,  p.  16. 

4.  Moderator  may  not  change  the  Time  of  Meeting. 

Records  of  the  Synod  of  Illinois,  approved  :  "  Except  in  the  case  of 
the  action  of  that  body,  as  recorded  on  p.  415,  sustaining  the  act  of  the 
Moderator  of  the  Synod,  in  changing  the  time  of  its  annual  meeting." 
—Minutes,  1854,  p.  500. 

5.  Synod  may  not  refuse  to  receive  the  Members  of  its  Presbyteries. 

"  The  Records  of  the  Synod  of  Michigan  were,  on  the  recommenda 
tion  of  the  committee,  approved,  with  the  following  exception,  That 
on  pages  137,  138,  139,  140,  the  Synod  declined  to  receive  two  mem 
bers,  whose  names  appear  on  the  minutes  of  two  of  the  Presbyteries ;  and 
that  the  Synod  also  directed  said  Presbyteries  to  strike  the  names  of  said 
members  of  Presbytery  from  their  roll :  one  of  the  members  belonging  to 
the  Presbytery  of  Monroe,  the  other  to  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Joseph." — 
Minutes,  1819,  p.  176. 

6.  Nor  enjoin  the  Erasure  of  their  Names. 

"Overture  No.  28.  On  the  doings  of  the  Synod  of  Michigan,  the 
matter  of  enjoining  the  Presbyteries  of  St.  Joseph  and  Monroe  to  erase 
the  names  of  Rev.  Marcus  Harrison  and  Rev.  A.  L.  Payson  from  their 
rolls,  was  taken  up.  It  was  Resolved,  That  the  action  of  the  Synod  in 
the  premises  is  unconstitutional." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  177. 

7.  The  Synod  may  not  act  judicially  upon  Review,  when  there  is  no 
appeal  or  reference  to  it. 

"  The  Assembly,  having  maturely  considered  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Davis, 
from  the  proceeding  of  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas  in  his  case — 


138  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"Resolved,  That  although  they  highly  approve  of  the  zeal  of  the 
Synod  to  preserve  the  purity  and  peace  of  the  Church  within  their 
bounds,  yet  they  cannot  but  decide  that,  in  their  proceedings  in  the 
above  case,  in  deciding  that  they  had  a  right  to  try  Mr.  Davis,  when 
there  was  no  reference  or  appeal  in  his  case  before  them,  they  have  not 
strictly  adhered  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." — 
Minutes,  1810,  p.  448. 


8.    The  Synods  to  send  up  their  Records  annually. 

a.  "  Ordered ,  That  the  Minutes  of  the  respective  Synods  be  laid  yearly 
before  the  General  Assembly,  to  be  by  them  revised." — Minutes,  1789, 
p.  7. 

To  report  all  Changes  within  their  bounds. 

I.  "Resolved,  That  the  respective  Synods  make  yearly  reports  to  the 
General  Assembly  of  all  the  licensures,  ordinations,  instalments,  trans 
lations,  resignations,  deaths,  and  whatever  changes  may  take  place 
among  the  members  within  their  bounds." — Minutes,  1789,  p.  7. 

9.  The  Members  of  an  inferior  Jadicatory  may  not  vote  on  the  approval 
of  their  own  Minutes. 

a.  "A  protest,  signed  by  a  number  of  members  of  the   Synod  of 
Geneva,  against  a  decision  of  that  Synod,  excluding  the  Presbytery  of 
Geneva  from  voting  on  the  question,  Whether  their  own  records  should 
be  attested  by  the  Moderator  of  the  Synod,  as  approved.     Your  com 
mittee  were,  however,  of  opinion  that  the  decision  of  the  Synod  was  con 
sonant  to  the  prevalent  usage  of  the  judicatures  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  as  well  as  to  the  usage  of  other  analogous  bodies  in  similar 
cases;  and  that  it  ought  therefore  to  be  approved."  Adopted. — Minutes, 
1816,  p.  611. 

b.  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  approved,  except,  "That 
the  members  of  the  West  Lexington  Presbytery  voted  in  approbation  of 
their  own  proceedings,  which  is  deemed  to  be  irregular." — Minutes, 
1821,  p.  23. 


THE    SYNOD.  139 


10.   Wlien  Exceptions  are  taken  to  the  Records  of  the  inferior  Court,  the 
Exceptions  should  be  stated,  and  reasons  assigned. 

a.  "  The  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  records  of  the  Synod 
of  Pittsburg,  reported,  and  the  book  was  approved,  excepting  the  resolu 
tion  on  page  74,  disapproving  of  the  proceedings  of  a  Presbytery  without 
assigning  the  reason." — Minutes,  1820,  p.  728. 

I).  "  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio  were  approved,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  a  minute  on  page  243,  disapproving  of  a  decision  of  a  Presbytery, 
and  ordering  said  Presbytery  to  reconsider  that  decision,  without  any 
reasons  being  assigned." — Minutes,  1827,  p.  202. 

c.  u  The  Synod  of  Pennsylvania,  in  approving  the  action  of  a  Presby 
tery  in  a  judicial  case,  assigned  an  entirely  unsatisfactory  reason,  p. 
259."— Minutes,  1850,  p.  314. 

d.  "  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Indiana  were  approved,  excepting 
that  on  page  342,  the  records  of  Greencastle  Presbytery  are  reported 
as  approved,  with  exceptions,  while  these  exceptions  are  not  spread  upon 
the  Minutes  of  the  Synod,  as  required  by  the  Form  of  Government, 
chap,  vii,  sec.  1,  art.  3." — Minutes,  1857,  p.  387. 

11.   Session  on  the  Sabbath  censured. 

a.  The  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  records  of  the  Synod  of 
North  Carolina,  reported,  when  the  records  were  approved,  with  the 
exception  that  on  page  48  it  is  recorded  that  Synod  held  a  session  on 
Sabbath  evening.     This  was  the  closing  meeting,  and  though  it  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  one  of  much  business,  still,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Assembly,  it  was  not  proper. — Minutes,  1834,  p.  445. 

b.  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Peoria  were  approved,  with  the  excep 
tion  that  "  on  p.  33,  there  is  a  record  of  a  business  meeting  held  on 
Sabbath  evening." — Minutes,  1846,  p.  18. 

12.  The  Record  should  state  the  Body  to  ivhich  a  Corresponding 
Member  belongs. 

a.  "The  proceedings  of  the  Synod  of  Albany  approved,  with  the  ex 
ception  of  having  invited  several  ministers  to  take  their  seats  as  corre 
sponding  members,  without  describing  the  ecclesiastical  body  to  which 
such  ministers  belong." — Minutes,  1815,  p.  578. 


140  V. — COURTS    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

6.  "  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Peoria  were  approved,  with  the 
exception  that  on  page  28,  mention  is  made  of  a  minister  being  invited 
to  sit  as  a  corresponding  member  without  designating  the  ecclesiastical 
body  to  which  he  belonged/' — Minutes,  1846,  p.  18. 

c.  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Illinois,  p.  440,  "  do  not  state  the 
ecclesiastical  connection  of  the  Rev.  Amasa  Lord,  who  was  invited  to 
sit  as  a  corresponding  member." — Minutes,  1857,  p.  387. 

13.  The  Records  should  state  that  the  Meetings  were  opened  and  dosed 

with  Prayer. 

a.  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  approved,  except  that 
"there  is  no  evidence  from  the  records  that  the  last  meeting  of  the 

O 

Synod  was  opened  with  prayer." — Minutes,  1850,  p.  314. 

b.  "  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Tennessee  were  approved,  with  the 
following  exceptions : 

"1.  On  p.  34,  it  appears  from  the  record  that  the  Synod  adjourned 
at  the  close  of  the  day  without  prayer. 

"  2.  On  p.  36,  it  is  recorded  that  the  Synod  was  constituted  with 
prayer,  it  being  the  second  day  of  the  sessions  of  the  Synod." — Minutes., 
1854,  p.  500. 

c.  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  approved,  except  that 
"there  is  no  record  of  prayer  in  p.  176." — Minutes,  1854,  p.  501. 

d.  Records  of  Synod  of  Minnesota  approved,  except  "  that  on  p.  54, 
in  the  record  of  the  session  of  Friday,  Sept.  30th,  1859,  no  mention  is 
made  of  the  opening  services." — Minutes,  1860,  p.  239. 

e.  "The  opening  minute  of  each  session  of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati  is 
defective,  in  not  recording  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  before  its  being 
opened  with  prayer." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  177. 

14.  The  Minutes  should  le  read  and  approved. 

a.  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati  approved,  except  "  the 
omission  at  the  opening  of  each  session  to  read  the  Minutes  of  the'  pre 
vious  session,  with  no  evidence  in  the  records  that  the  Minutes  were 
approved  by  Synod." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  177. 

b.  "  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Wabash  were  approved,  with  the 
following  exceptions  : 

"  1.  On  pages  51  and  52,  the  Synod  met  and  proceeded  to  business 
without  reading  the  Minutes  of  the  previous  day's  session. 


THE    SYNOD.  141 

"2.  On  page  59,  the  Synod  closed  its  annual  sessions  and  adjourned 
without  reading  or  approving  the  Minutes  of  the  clerk/' — Minutes, 
1854,  p.  500. 

c.  "  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  were  approved,  except 
ing,  '  that  it  does  not  appear  from  the  book  that  the  records  have  ever 
been  approved  by  the  Synod/" — Minutes,  1857,  p.  387. 

15.  The  Minutes  should  be  attested  by  the  Stated  Clerlt. 

a.  "The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Tennessee  are  not  attested  by  the 
stated  clerk."— Minutes,  1854,  p.  500. 

b.  u  The  records  of  the   Synod  of  Kentucky  not  approved  by  the 
Synod,  and  some  not  attested  by  the  stated  clerk." — Minutes,  1854;  p. 
501. 

16.   A  Narrative  of  the  State  of  Religion  slwuld  le  prepared  and 

recorded. 

a.  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Illinois  were,  on  the  recommendation 
of  the  committee,  approved,  with  the  following  exception,  viz. : 

"  At  the  sessions  of  Synod  in  October,  1846,  it  does  not  appear  from 
the  records,  that  a  narrative  of  the  State  of  Religion  was  prepared. 
Such  an  omission  is  considered  contrary  to  the  general  usage  of  Synods, 
and  not  for  the  edification  of  the  Church." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  176. 

I.  "  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Illinois  were  approved,  except,  'that 
they  do  not  contain  the  narrative  on  the  State  of  Religion,  which  was 
presented  by  the  committee  on  that  subject  at  the  sessions  of  the  Synod 
in  1854,  p.  434.'"— Minutes,  1857,  p.  387. 

17.  Names  of  Absentees  should  be  recorded. 

The  Records  of  the  Synod  of  Peoria  were  approved,  except  "  that, 
in  the  roll  of  the  Synod,  record  is  made  that  no  members  of  the  Presby 
tery  of  Belvidere  were  present;  but  no  record  of  the  names  of  absen 
tees."—  Minutes,  1850,  p.  314. 

18.  Absentees  must  be  called  to  answer. 

"The  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  Records  of  the  Synod  of 
Virginia  reported,  and  the  book  was  approved  to  page  83,  with  the  ex- 


142  V. — COURTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

ception  of  a  resolution  found  in  page  82,  in  which  the  Synod  determined 
to  discontinue  the  practice  of  calling  upon  their  members  for  the  reasons 
of  their  absence  from  its  meetings." — Minutes,  1825,  p.  140. 


Absentees  not  to  be  disciplined  without  trial. 

u  The  Records  of  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas  were  approved  to  page 
28  of  the  twenty-third  sessions  of  said  Synod,  with  the  exception  of  the 
resolution  to  make  a  minister  liable  to  suspension  without  trial  for  three 
years'  absence  from  Synod,  without  sending  forward  his  reason  for  ab 
sence." — Minutes,  1811,  p.  468. 


19.   Erection  of  the  Synods. 

1-4.  SYNODS  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  NEW  JERSEY,  PHILADELPHIA, 
VIRGINIA,  AND  THE  CAROLINAS,  1788. — "Your  committee  beg  leave 
to  report  that  they  conceive  it  will  be  most  conducive  to  the  interests  of 
religion  that  this  Synod  be  divided  into  four  Synods ;  and  therefore  sub 
mit  to  the  Synod  the  following  plan  for  dividing  the  Synod  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  into  four  distinct  Synods,  subordinate  to  a  General 
Assembly,  to  be  constituted  out  of  the  whole. 

"  1st.  That  one  of  the  said  Synods  shall  consist  of  the  Presbyteries 
of  Dutchess  county,  Suffolk,  New  York,  and  New  Brunswick,  to  be 
known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey. 

"2d.  That  another  Synod  shall  consist  of  the  Presbyteries  of  Phila 
delphia,  Lewistown,  New  Castle,  Baltimore,  and  Carlisle,  to  be  known 
by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Philadelphia. 

"3d.  That  another  Synod  shall  consist  of  the  Presbyteries  of  Red 
stone,  Hanover,  Lexington,  and  Transylvania,  to  be  known  by  the  name 
of  The  Synod  of  Virginia. 

"  4th.  That  another  Synod  shall  consist  of  the  Presbyteries  of  Abing- 
don,  Orange,  and  South  Carolina,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  The 
Synod  of  the  Carolinas." —Minutes,  1786,  p.  523. 

"1.  Resolved  unanimously,  That  this  Synod  be  divided,  and  it  is 
hereby  divided,  into  four  Synods,  agreeably  to  an  act  made  and  provided 
for  that  purpose  in  the  Sessions  of  Synod  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  eighty-six ;  and  that  this  division  shall  commence  on  the 
dissolution  of  the  present  Synod. — Minutes,  1788,  p.  547. 


THE    SYNOD.  143 

5,  6.  THE  SYNODS  OF  PITTSBURG  AND  KENTUCKY  IN  1802. — "The 
committee  appointed  on  the  petition  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia,  praying 
to  be  divided  into  three  Synods,  reported.  The  report  being  read  and 
amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"It  is  the  opinion  of  the  committee  that  the  said  division  ought  to 
be  made.  They,  therefore,  submit  the  following  resolutions,  viz.  : 

"1.  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Hanover,  Lexington,  and  Winchester, 
constitute  a  Synod,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Virginia; 
that  they  hold  their  first  meeting  at  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Lex 
ington,  in  Virginia,  on  the  last  Wednesday  of  September  next,  and  be 
opened  with  a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  Waddel,  or,  in  case  of  his 
absence,  by  the  next  senior  minister  who  may  be  present,  and  that  they 
afterwards  meet  on  their  own  adjournments. 

"  2.  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Redstone,  Ohio,  and  Erie  be  constituted 
a  Synod,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Pittsburg  ;  that 
they  hold  their  first  meeting  in  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Pittsburg, 
on  the  last  Wednesday  of  September  next,  and  be  opened  with  a  sermon 
by  the  Rev.  James  Power ;  and,  in  case  of  his  absence,  by  the  next  se 
nior  minister  who  may  be  present,  and  that  they  afterwards  meet  on  their 
own  adjournments. 

"3.  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Transylvania,  West  Lexington,  and 
Washington,  be  constituted  a  Synod,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  The 
Synod  of  Kentucky ;  that  their  first  meeting  be  held  in  the  Presbyterian 
church,  in  the  town  of  Lexington,  in  Kentucky,  on  the  second  Thurs 
day  in  October  next,  and  be  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  James 
Welch,  and,  in  case  of  his  absence,  by  the  next  senior  minister  who  may 
be  present,  and  that  they  afterwards  meet  on  their  own  adjournments. 

"4.  That  the  southern  boundary  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  be,  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Scioto,  up  the  Ohio  River  to  the  mouth  of  the  Great 
Kanawha,  thence  a  line  due  east  unto  the  top  of  the  Alleghany  moun 
tains  ;  and  that  the  western  boundary  of  the  said  Synod  begin  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Scioto,  and  thence  up  the  said  river  to  its  source,  &c. }  and 
that  the  line  between  the  States  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  be  the  boun 
dary  between  those  Synods." — Minutes,  1802,  p.  250. 

7.  THE  SYNOD  OF  ALBANY  IN  1803. — "A  communication  was  re 
ceived  from  the  Presbyteries  of  Albany,  Oneida,  and  Columbia,  request 
ing,  among  other  things,  that  the  said  Presbyteries  may  be  constituted 
a  Synod,  by  the  name  of  the  Synod  of  Albany.  Satisfactory  evidence 


144  V. — COURTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

was  laid  before  the  Assembly  that  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey,  to  which  said  Presbyteries  belong,  has  been  consulted,  and  given 
their  consent  to  the  measures  proposed ;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Albany,  Oneida,  and  Columbia 
be,  and  they  hereby  are,  constituted  and  formed  into  a  Synod,  to  be 
known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Albany  ;  that  they  hold  their  first 
meeting  in  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Albany  the  first  Wednesday  of 
October  next,  at  two  o'clock,  p.  M.,  and  be  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the 
Rev.  Jedecliah  Chapman,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  by  the  next  senior 
minister  present,  and  that  they  afterwards  meet  on  their  own  adjourn 
ments."—  Minutes,  1803,  p.  278. 

8.  THE  SYNOD  OF  GENEVA  IN  1812. — "The  following  application 
from  the  Synod  of  Albany  was  overtured  by  the  Committee  of  Overtures, 
that  said  Synod  be  divided  in  the  manner  following,  viz.  : 

"  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Londonderry,  Columbia,  Albany,  and  Onei 
da,  form  the  eastern  division,  and  be  constituted  a  Synod,  to  be  called  and 
known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Albany. 

l(  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Onondaga,  Cayuga,  and  Geneva,  form  the 
western  division,  and  be  constituted  a  Synod,  to  be  called  arid  known  by 
the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Geneva.  Adopted."— Minutes,  1812,  p.  502. 

9,  10.  THE  SYNODS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA  AND  SOUTH  CAROLINA 
AND  GEORGIA,  IN  1813.— "Resolved,    That  the  said  Synod  (of  the 
Carolinas)  be  divided  as  follows,  viz.  : 

"  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Orange,  Concord,  and  Fayetteville  be  con 
stituted  a  Synod,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  North 
Carolina. 

"That  the  Presbyteries  of  South  Carolina,  Ilopewell,  and  Harmony 
be  constituted  a  Synod,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia" — Minutes,  1813,  pp.  526,  527. 

11.  THE  SYNOD  OF  OHIO,  in  1814. — "  The  committee  to  which  were 
referred  the  petition  of  the  Presbytery  of  Lancaster,  for  the  division  of 
the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  and  a  resolution  of  the  Synod  on  the  same 
subject,  reported  in  favor  of  the  petition;  and  it  was 

"Resolved  by  the  Assembly,  That  the  Presbytery  of  Lancaster  be 
separated  from  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  and  the  Presbyteries  of  Wash 
ington  and  Miami  be  separated  from  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  and  be 


THE   SYNOD.  145 

erected  into  a  new  Synod,  and  called  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Ohio, 
to  meet  at  Chillicothe,  on  the  last  Thursday  of  October  next;  that  the 
Rev.  Robert  G.  Wilson,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  the  senior  minister 
present,  open  the  Synod  with  a  sermon,  and  preside  till  a  new  moderator 
be  chosen." — Minutes,  1814,  p.  547. 

12.  THE  SYNOD  OF  TENNESSEE,  IN  1817. — "  The  committee  to  whom 
was  referred  the  petition  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  praying  a  division 
of  said  Synod,  reported,  and  their  report  being  read,  was  adopted,  and 
is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  That,  agreeably  to  the  request  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  the  Pres 
byteries  of  Union,  Shiloh,  West  Tennessee,  and  Mississippi,  be  consti 
tuted  a  Synod,  to  be  known  and  called  by  the  name  of  the  Synod  of 
Tennessee;  that  they  hold  their  first  session  at  Nashville,  on  the  first 
Wednesday  of  October  next ;  and  that  the  Rev.  James  AY.  Stephenson, 
or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  the  senior  minister  who  may  be  present,  open 
the  Synod  with  a  sermon,  and  preside  until  a  new  moderator  be  chosen/' 
—Minutes,  1817,  p.  643. 

13.  THE  SYNOD  OF  GENESEE,  IN  1821.— "The  Synod  of  Geneva 
requested  that  said  Synod  be  divided  in  the  following  manner,  and  their 
request  was  granted,  viz. : 

"  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Niagara,  Genesee,  Rochester,  and  On 
tario  be  erected  into  a  Synod,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod 
of  Genesee;  and  that  they  hold  their  first  meeting  at  Rochester,  on  the 
third  Tuesday  of  September  next,  at  2  o'clock,  P.M.,  and  be  opened  with 
a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Fitch,  D.D.,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence, 
by  the  senior  minister  present ;  and  afterwards  meet  on  their  own  ad 
journments." — Minutes,  1821,  p.  16. 

14,  15.  THE  SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  NEW  JERSEY  DIVIDED,  IN 
1823. — "Resolved,  That,  agreeably  to  the  petition  of  said  Synod  [of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey],  the  Presbyteries  of  New  York,  Long 
Island,  Hudson,  North  River,  and  Second  Presbytery  of  New  York,  be 
constituted,  and  they  are  hereby  constituted  a  Synod,  to  be  called  The 
Synod  of  New  York;  that  they  hold  their  first  meeting  on  the  third 
Tuesday  of  October  next,  at  10  o'clock,  A.M.,  in  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  afterwards  upon  their  own  ad 
journments;  that  Dr.  Rowan,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  the  senior 

10 


146  V. — COURTS   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

minister  present,  open  the  meeting  with  a  sermon,  and  preside  till  a  new 
moderator  is  chosen. 

"  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Jersey,  New  Brunswick,  Newton,  and  Sus- 
quehanna  be  constituted,  and  they  hereby  are  constituted  a  Synod,  to  be 
called  The  Synod  of  New  Jersey  ;  that  they  hold  their  first  meeting  on 
the  third  Tuesday  of  October  next,  at  10  o'clock,  A.M.,  in  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Newark,  and  afterwards  on  their  own  adjourn 
ments;  that  Dr.  Woodhull,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  the  senior  min 
ister  present,  open  the  meeting  with  a  sermon,  and  preside  till  a  new 
moderator  is  chosen." — Minutes,  1823,  p.  71. 

16.  SYNOD  OF  WESTERN  RESERVE,  IN  1825. — "Resolved,  That  the 
Presbyteries  of  Grand  River,  Portage,  and  Huron  be,  and  they  hereby 
are,  detached  from  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  and  constituted  a  new  Synod, 
to  be  designated  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve;  that 
they  hold  their  first  meeting  at  Hudson,  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  of  Sep 
tember  next,  at   11  o'clock,  A.M.,  and  that  the  Rev.  Joseph  Badger 
preach  the  Synodical  sermon,  and  act  as  moderator  till  another  shall  be 
chosen,  or,  in  case  of  his  failure,  then  the  oldest  minister  present  shall 
officiate  in  his  place." — Minutes,  1825,  p.  145. 

17,  18.  SYNODS  OF  WEST  TENNESSEE  AND  INDIANA,  IN  1826. — 
"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  petition  from  the  Synod  of 
Tennessee,  requesting  a  division  of  said   Synod,  made  the  following 
report,  which  was  adopted,  viz. : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  prayer  of  the  Synod  be  granted,  so  far  as  to 
constitute  the  Presbyteries  of  West  Tennessee,  Shiloh,  Mississippi,  and 
North  Alabama,  into  a  Synod,  to  be  denominated  The  Synod  of  West 
Tennessee;  to  meet  in  Huntsville,  on  the  second  Wednesday  of  October 
next,  at  11  o'clock,  A.M.  ;  and  that  the  Rev.  Robert  Hardin,  or,  in 
case  of  his  absence,  the  senior  minister  present,  open  the  Synod  with  a 
sermon,  and  preside  till  a  moderator  be  chosen  and  the  Synod  regularly 
organized. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  petition  from  the  Presby 
tery  of  Salem,  requesting  that  the  Presbyteries  of  Salem,  Madison, 
Wabash,  and  Missouri  be  constituted  a  Synod,  to  be  known  by  the  name 
of  The  Synod  of  Indiana,  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted, 
viz.  : 

t(  Resolved,  That  the  prayer  of  the  petition  be  granted,  and  that  the 


THE    SYNOD.  147 

said  Synod  meet  in  Vincennes,  on  the  third  Wednesday  of  October 
next;  and  that  the  Rev.  William  Martin,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence, 
the  senior  minister  present,  open  the  Synod  with  a  sermon,  and  preside 
till  a  moderator  be  chosen  and  the  Synod  regularly  organized." — Minutes, 
1826,  p.  179. 

19.  THE  SYNOD  or  UTICA,  IN  1829. — "Overture  No.  3,  viz.,  an  ap 
plication  from  the  Synod  of  Albany,  for  the  erection  of  a  new  Synod, 
was  taken  up ;  when  it  was 

"Resolved,  That  the  request  be  granted;  and,  agreeably  to  the  re 
quest  of  the  Synod,  the  Presbyteries  of  Ogdensburg,  Watertown, 
Oswego,  Oneida,  and  Otsego  are  hereby  constituted  a  new  Synod,  to  be 
called  The  Synod  of  Utica." — Minutes,  1829,  p.  260. 

20.  SYNOD  OF  MISSISSIPPI  AND  SOUTH  ALABAMA,  IN  1829. — "  The 
committee  on  Overture  No.  2,  from  the  Judicial  Committee,  viz.,  the 
complaint  and  request  of  the  Presbytery  of  Missisippi,  reported,  that 
in  consequence  of  the  insufficiency  of  testimony,  they  express  no  opinion 
respecting  the  correctness  of  the  complaint;  but  they  recommend  that 
the  request  be  granted, — which  is,  that  the  Presbyteries  of  Mississippi, 
South  Alabama,  and  Bigby  be  formed  into  a  new  Synod.     The  report  of 
the  committee  was  adopted ;  and  the  Presbyteries  of  Mississippi,  South 
Alabama,  and  Bigby  are  hereby  formed  into  a  new  Synod,  to  be  known 
by  the  name  of    The  Synod  of  Mississippi  and  South  Alabama" — 
Minutes,  1829,  p.  263. 

21.  SYNOD  or  CINCINNATI,  IN  1829.— u  Resolved,  That  a  new  Synod 
be  constituted,  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  to  consist  of 
the  Presbyteries  of  Chillicothe,  Cincinnati,  and  Miami;  and  that  the 
line  which  divides  the  Presbyteries  of  Athens,  Lancaster,  and  Columbus, 
on  the  east,  from  the  Presbyteries  of  Chillicothe  and  Miami,  on  the 
west,  shall  be  the  dividing  line  between  the  Synods  of  Ohio  and  Cin 
cinnati;    excepting  that  the  portion  of  the  Presbytery  of  Columbus 
which  lies  in  the  counties  of  Clarke,  Champaign,  and  Logan,  and  west 
of  a  line  running  due  north  from  the  northeast  corner  of  the  county  of 
Logan,  to  the  boundary  of  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve,  shall  be 
attached  to  the  Presbytery  of  Miami;  and  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati  shall 
hold  their  first  meeting  in  Lebanon,  on  the  fourth  Thursday  of  October 
next,  at  11  o'clock,  A.M.,  and  shall  be  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the 


148  V. — COURTS   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

Rev.  James  Kemper,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  by  the  senior  minister 
present,  who  shall  preside  until  a  moderator  shall  be  chosen/' — Minutes, 
1829,  p.  271. 

22.  SYNOD  OF  ILLINOIS,  IN  1831. — "The  committee  to  whom  was 
referred  Overture  No.  10,  viz.,  an  application  for  the  division  of  the  Synod 
of  Indiana,  reported  in  favor  of  the  application;  when  it  was  resolved, 
agreeably  to  the  request  of  the  Synod,  that  the  Presbyteries  of  Illinois, 
Kaskaskia,  Sangamon,  and  Missouri,  be,  and  they  hereby  are,  erected 
into  a  new  Synod,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Illinois'' 
—Minutes,  1831,  p.  324. 

23.  SYNOD  OF  MISSOURI,  IN  1832. — "  The  Presbytery  of  Missouri  re 
quested  the  Synod  of  Illinois  to  take  measures  for  the  erection  of  a  new 
Synod  ;  whereupon  the  Synod  divided  the  ministers  and  churches  in  the 
State  of  Missouri  into  three  Presbyteries,   viz.,  the  Presbytery  of  St. 
Louis,  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Charles,  and  the  Presbytery  of  Missouri. 
The  Synod  of  Illinois  pray  the  G-eneral  Assembly  to  erect  a  new  Synod, 
to  be  composed  of  the  above-named  Presbyteries,  and  to  be  called   The 
Synod  of  Missouri.     Granted."— Minutes,  1832,  p.  366. 

24.  SYNOD  OF  CHESAPEAKE,  IN  1833. — [The  Synod  of  Chesapeake, 
consisting  of  the  Presbyteries  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  Baltimore, 
and  East  Hanover,  was  erected  in  1833,  see  Minutes,  p.  395,  and  dis 
solved  in  1834.     See  Minutes,  1834,  p.  451.] 

25.  SYNOD  OF  MICHIGAN,  IN  1834. — "  The  Assembly  took  up  Over 
ture  No.  11,  viz.  :  A  petition  from  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve 
to  erect  the  Presbyteries  of  Detroit,  Monroe,  and  St.  Joseph,  in  said 
Synod,  into  a  new  Synod,  to  be  called  The  Synod  of  Michigan. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  petition  be  granted  ;  and  the  said  Presbyteries  of 
Detroit,  Monroe,  and  St.  Joseph,  are  hereby  erected  into  a  Synod,  to  be 
known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Michigan." — Minutes,  1834,  p.  436. 

26.  SYNOD  OF  DELAWARE,  IN  1834. — "  Resolved,  That  the  Second 
Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  and  the   Presbyteries  of  Wilmington  and 
Lewes,  be,  and  the  same  hereby  are,  erected  into  a  new  Synod,  to  be 
called  The  Synod  of  Delaware  ;  that  they  hold  their  first  meeting  in 
the  Second  Church,  Wilmington,  the  4th  Thursday  in  October  next,  at 


THE    SYNOD.        *  149 

11  o'clock,  A.  M.,  and  that  the  opening  sermon  be  preached  by  the  Rev. 
James  Patterson,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  by  the  oldest  minister  pre 
sent/' — Minutes,  1834,  p.  451. 

DISSOLVED. — "Resolved,  That  at  and  after  the  meeting  of  the  Synod 
of  Philadelphia,  in  October  next,  the  Synod  of  Delaware  shall  be  dis 
solved,  and  the  Presbyteries  constituting  the  same  shall  be  then  and 
thereafter  annexed  to  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia/' — Minutes,  1835,  p. 
486. 

27.  SYNOD  OF  ALABAMA,  IN  1835. — "The  committee  to  whom  was 
referred  Overture  No.  26,  being  a  petition  from  the  Synod  of  Mississippi 
and  South  Alabama,  for  the  erection  of  a  new  Synod,  made  their  report, 
which  was  accepted  and  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  the  request  of  the  Synod  be  granted. 

"2.  That  the  Presbyteries  of  South  Alabama,  Tuscaloosa,  and  Tombig- 
bee,  be  erected  into  a  new  Synod,  to  be  called  The  Synod  of  Alabama  " 
—Minutes,  1835,  p.  489. 

28.  SYNOD  OF  PENNSYLVANIA,  IN  1838. — "A  petition  of  certain 
members  of  the  Presbyteries  of  Wilmington,  Lewes,  Philadelphia  2d,  and 
Philadelphia  3d,  praying  for  the  erection  of  a  new  Synod,  from  the  parts 
of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  was  reported,  and  the  following  resolution 
was  adopted : 

"Resolved,  That  the  ministers  and  congregations  belonging  to  the  Pres 
byteries  of  Wilmington,  Lewes,  Philadelphia  2d,  Philadelphia  3d,  Car 
lisle,  Huntingdon,  and  Northumberland,  be,  and  they  hereby  are,  set  off 
from  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  and  erected  into  a  new  Synod,  to  be 
called  The  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  ;  that  they  hold  their  first  meeting 
in  the  Eleventh  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on 
the  2d  Wednesday  of  July  next,  at  11  o'clock,  A.M.,  and  be  opened  with 
a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  E.  W.  Gilbert,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  by  the 
oldest  minister  present/' — Minutes,  1838,  p.  657. 

29.  SYNOD  OF  NEWARK,  IN  1839. — "Overtures  No.  1  and  2,  two 
memorials  from  the  Presbyteries  of  Newark  and  Montrose,  requesting 
the  erection  of  a  new  Presbytery,  by  the  name  of  The  Presbytery  of 
Rockaway,  and  also  the  erection  of  a  new  Synod,  by  the  name  of  The 


150  V. — COURTS   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

Synod  of  Newark,  were  taken  up  for  consideration,  and  the  following 
resolutions  were  adopted  : 

"  1.  Resolved,  That  the  Presbytery  of  Newark  be  divided  into  two 
Presbyteries,  and  that  the  ministers  and  churches  within  the  city  of 
Newark  and  the  townships  of  Paterson,  Bloomfield,  and  Orange,  toge 
ther  with  the  Rev.  Samuel  Fisher,  D.D.,  Rev.  Gideon  N.  Judd,  and 
Rev.  Henry  A.  Axtell,  be  and  remain  the  Presbytery  of  Newark;  and 
that  the  remaining  ministers  and  churches  belonging  to  the  Presbytery 
of  Newark  be,  and  they  hereby  are,  erected  into  a  new  Presbytery,  to 
be  called  '  The  Presbytery  of  Rockaway.' 

"2.  Resolved,  That  the  Presbytery  of  Newark  meet  in  the  Third 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Newark,  on  the  second  Tuesday  in  June  next, 
at  4  o'clock,  P.M.,  to  transact  any  business  which  may  become  necessary 
in  consequence  of  the  division  of  said  Presbytery,  and  that  the  last 
moderator  preside  until  a  new  moderator  be  chosen. 

"3.  Resolved,  That  the  Presbytery  of  Rockaway  meet  in  the  church 
in  Parsippany,  on  the  third  Tuesday  in  June  next,  at  8  o'clock,  P.M.,  to 
be  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  Barnabas  King,  or,  in  case  of  his 
absence,  by  the  oldest  minister  present,  who  shall  preside  until  a  new 
moderator  be  chosen. 

"4.  Resolved,  That  the  ministers  and  congregations  belonging  to  the 
Presbyteries  of  Newark,  Rockaway,  and  Montrose  be,  and  they  hereby 
are,  set  off  from  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey,  and  erected  into  a  new 
Synod,  to  be  called  The  Synod  of  Newark;  that  they  hold  their  first 
meeting  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Newark,  on  the  third  Tues 
day  in  October  next,  at  3  o'clock,  P.M,  and  be  opened  with  a  sermon  by 
the  Rev.  Asa  Hillyer,  D.D.,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  by  the  oldest 
minister  present,  who  shall  preside  till  a  new  moderator  be  chosen ;  and 
that  they  meet  afterward  on  their  own  adjournment. 

"  And  whereas  it  is  understood  that  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey,  at 
their  last  meeting,  renounced  the  authority  of  this  General  Assembly, 
and  declared  their  adherence  to  a  different  body;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  territory  heretofore  comprehended  within  the 
bounds  of  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey,  be  attached  to  the  Synod  of 
Newark ;  and  that  if  any  of  the  Presbyteries  heretofore  belonging  to 
the  Synod  of  New  Jersey,  shall  choose  to  be  connected  with  the  Synod 
of  Newark,  the  said  Synod  is  hereby  authorized  to  receive  them." — 
Minutes,  1839,  pp.  10, 11. 


THE    SYNOD.  151 

30.  SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  NEW  JERSEY,  FORMED  BY  UNION  OF 
SYNODS  OF  NEWARK  AND  NEW  YORK,  IN  1840. — "  The  committee 
further  report  and  recommend,  that  it  be  ordained  by  the  General  As 
sembly,  in  reference  to  the  Synods  of  New  York  and  of  Newark,  that 
they  be  united  into  one  Synod,  to  be  called  The  Synod  of  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  ;  and  that  said  Synod  meet  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
in  the  Pearl  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  on  the  evening  of  the  third 
Tuesday  of  October  next,  at  7  o'clock,  and  be  opened  with  a  sermon  by 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Fisher,  D.D.,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence  or  inability  to 
act,  by  the  Rev.  Erskine  Mason,  D.D. 

"  It  was  further  ordered  by  the  Assembly,  that  the  Presbytery  of  Mont- 
rose  may  have  their  election,  whether  they  shall  belong  to  the  Synod  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey,  or  to  the  Synod  of  Geneva,  or  to  the  Synod 
of  Pennsylvania;  provided  they  decide  and  signify  their  decision  to  the 
stated  clerk  of  the  Assembly  before  the  first  of  October  next ;  and  in 
case  of  their  failure  to  take  the  requisite  order  in  the  premises,  that  then 
they  remain  in  their  present  connection  with  the  Synod  of  New  York 
and  New  Jersey." — Minutes,  1840,  p.  18. 

31.  SYNOD  OF  PEORIA,  IN  1843. — "Resolved,  That  a  new  Synod 
be  erected  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synod  of  Illinois,  embracing  the 
ministers  and  churches   connected  with   the   Presbyteries  of  Ottawa, 
Peoria,  Knox,  and  Galena,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  The  Synod  of 
Peoria;  that  the  first  meeting  of  the  new  Synod  be  held  at  Galena,  on 
the  second  Thursday  of  October,  1843,  at  6  o'clock,  P.M.,  to  be  opened 
with  a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  George  W.  Gale,  or,  in  his  absence,  by  the 
oldest  minister  present,  who  shall  preside  till  another  moderator  shall 
be  chosen/' — Minutes,  1843,  p.  11. 

32.  SYNOD  OF  WEST  PENNSYLVANIA,  IN  1843. — "Resolved  also, 
That  a  new  Synod  be  erected  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synod  of  Penn 
sylvania,  embracing  the  ministers   and  churches   connected  with  the 
Presbyteries  of  Erie,  Meadville,  and  Pittsburg,  to  be  known  by  the 
name  of  The  Synod  of  West  Pennsylvania ;  that  the  first  meeting  of 
the  new  Synod  be  held  at  Meadville,  Crawford  County,  on  the  third 
Tuesday  of  October,  1843,  at  6  o'clock,  P.M.,  to  be  opened  with  a  sermon 
by  the  Rev.  D.  H.  Riddle,  D.D.,  or,  in  his  absence,  by  the  oldest  mi 
nister  present,  who  shall  preside  till  another  moderator  shall  be  chosen. " 
—Minutes,  1843,  p.  11. 


152  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

33.  SYNOD  OF  WABASH,  IN  1851.— "The  Committee  on  the  Polity 
of  the  Church  presented  a  report,  which  was  adopted,  recommending 
that  the  Synod  of  Indiana,  at  their  own  request,  be  divided  in  the  fol 
lowing  manner : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Crawfordsville,  Logansport,  and 
Fort  Wayne  be  detached  from  the  Synod  of  Indiana,  and  constituted  a 
Synod,  to  be  called  The  Synod  of  Wabash;  that  they  hold  their  first 
meeting  at  Fort  Wayne,  on  the  second  Thursday  of  September  next,  at 
11  o'clock,  A.M.  ;  and  that  the  Rev.  Charles  White,  D.D.,  or,  in  case 
of  his  absence,  the  senior  minister  present,  preach  the  opening  sermon, 
and  preside  until  a  new  moderator  be  chosen ;  and  that  the  Synod  meet 
afterwards  on  their  own  adjournment/' — Minutes,  1851,  p.  13. 

34.  SYNOD  OF  IOWA,  IN  1853.— "  The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of 
the  Church  presented  a  report,  recommending  the  formation  of  a  new 
Synod,  to  be  called  The  Synod  of  Iowa,  as  follows  : 

"At  the  request  of  the  Presbyteries  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa  City,  and 
Keokuk,  and  the  concurring  request  of  the  Synod  of  Illinois,  that  the 
said  Presbyteries  be  formed  into  a  new  Synod,  it  is  hereby 

"Resolved,  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa  City,  and 
Keokuk  be,  and  they  are  hereby  set  off  from  the  Synod  of  Illinois,  and 
erected  into  a  new  Synod,  to  be  styled  The  Synod  of  Iowa,  to  meet  at 
Yellow  Springs,  Iowa,  on  the  first  Thursday  of  September  next,  at  2 
o'clock,  P.M.;  that  the  Rev.  W.  W.  Woods  be  appointed  to  preach  the 
opening  sermon,  and  preside  till  a  moderator  be  elected,  and,  in  case  of 
his  absence,  the  oldest  minister  present." — Minutes,  1853,  p.  314. 

35.  SYNOD  OF  SUSQUEHANNA  IN  1853. — "The  same  Committee  (on 
Polity)  also  reported  that  they  had  received  a  request  from  the  Presby 
teries  of  Otsego,  Delaware,  and  Chenango,  to  be  erected  into  a  new 
Synod,  and  recommended  that  it  be  granted,  provided  the  commissioners 
from  the  Synods  to  which  these  Presbyteries  are  attached  do  not  object, — 
the  new  Synod  to  take  the  name  of  The  Synod  of  Susqiiehanna.    Their 
report  was  put  upon  the  docket. 

"  The  committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  subject  of  the  erection  of 
a  new  Synod,  to  be  called  The  Synod  of  Susquehanna,  made  a  report, 
which  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"1.  The  Presbyteries  requesting  the  action  of  the  Assembly  occupy 


THE   SYNOD.  153 

a  large  and  important  territory,  sufficiently  large  and  important  for  a 
separate  Synod. 

"2.  There  is  a  sufficient  number  of  ministers  and  churches  connected 
with  those  Presbyteries  to  warrant  the  formation  of  the  proposed  Synod  j 
and — 

"  3.  The  geographical  position  of  the  members  of  those  Presbyteries  is 
such  as  to  render  it  almost  impossible  for  them  to  attend  the  meetings 
of  their  respective  Synods. 

"  The  committee  would  further  report,  that  two  of  the  three  Synods 
more  particularly  interested  on  this  subject,  viz.,  the  Synods  of  Geneva 
and  Albany,  make  no  objections  to  the  erection  of  the  proposed  Synod; 
and  the  objection  made  by  the  Synod  of  Utica  is,  mainly,  that  it  will 
reduce  their  number. 

"  While  the  committee  think  that  the  Presbyteries  of  Otsego  and  Dela 
ware  should  have  consulted  their  respective  Synods  in  reference  to  the 
matter,  yet,  in  view  of  the  importance  of  the  proposed  change,  they 
would  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution1: 

11  Resolved,  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Otsego,  Chenango,  and  Delaware, 
belonging  respectively  to  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva,  and  Albany,  be, 
and  they  hereby  are,  constituted  into  a  new  Synod,  to  be  called  The 
Synod  of  Susquehanna,  to  hold  their  first  meeting  at  Franklin,  Dela 
ware  Co.,  N.  Y.,  on  the  third  Thursday  of  October  next,  at  2  o'clock 
P.  M. ;  opening  with  a  sermon  from  the  oldest  minister  present,  who  shall 
preside  until  a  moderator  shall  be  elected." — Minutes,  1853,  pp.  314, 
330,  331. 

36.  SYNOD  OF  ONONDAGA,  IN  1855. — "  The  Committee  on  the  Polity 
of  the  Church  report,  that  an  application  has  been  made  by  the  Synod 
of  Geneva  for  the  erection  of  a  new  Synod,  to  be  composed  of  four  Pres 
byteries  of  the  Synod  of  Geneva ;  and,  as  the  matter  has  been  amicably 
arranged  by  those  concerned,  and  no  objection  appears  to  such  a  course, 
they  recommend  that  the  Presbyteries  of  Onondaga,  Cayuga,  Cortland, 
and  Tioga  be  erected  into  a  new  Synod,  to  be  called  The  Synod  of 
Onondaga. 

"They  also  recommend  that  the  first  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Onondaga 
be  appointed  at  Cortlandville,  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  October,  1855, 
at  7  o'clock,  p.  M.  ;  that  Rev.  Levi  Parsons  preach  the  opening  sermon, 
and  preside  until  a  moderator  is  chosen ;  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  that 


154  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

the  oldest  member  present  preach  and  preside."     Adopted. — Minutes, 
1855,  p.  26. 

37.  SYNOD  OF  WISCONSIN,  IN  1857. — "  The  Committee  on  the  Polity 
of  the  Church  reported  Overture  No.  1,  being  a  request  from  the  Synod 
of  Peoria  for  the  erection  of  a  new  Synod. 

"The  committee  recommend  that  the  request  be  granted,  and  that 
the  Presbyteries  of  Milwaukie,  Pox  River,  and  Columbus,  now  attached 
to  the  Synod  of  Peoria,  be  erected  into  a  new  Synod,  to  be  called  The 
Synod  of  Wisconsin;  and  that  they  hold  their  first  meeting  in  Columbus, 
Wisconsin,  on  the  third  Thursday  of  October,  1857,  at  7  o'clock,  P.  M., 
the  oldest  minister  present  to  preach  the  sermon,  and  to  preside  until  a 
moderator  be  chosen. 

'•'The  report  was  adopted." — Minutes,  1857,  p.  383. 

38.  SYNOD  OF  ALTA  CALIFORNIA,  IN  1857. — "  Also  Overture  No.  2, 
being  a  request  from  the  Presbytery  of  San  Francisco  for  the  division  of 
that  Presbytery,  and  the  erection  of  a  new  Synod. 

"The  committee  recommend  that  the  request  be  granted ;  that  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  Silas  S.  Harmon,  Laurentine  Hamilton,  Walter  Frear,  and 
Edward  B.  Walsworth,  together  with  the  churches  of  Columbia,  Sonora, 
Placerville,  and  Marysville,  be  constituted  into  a  new  Presbytery,  to  be 
called  The  Presbytery  of  Sierra  Nevada,  to  hold  their  first  meeting  at 
Sacramento,  California,  on  Tuesday,  October  6th,  1857,  at  3  o'clock, 
p.  M. ,  and  to  be  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the  oldest  minister  present, 
who  is  to  preside  until  a  moderator  be  chosen. 

"  That  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Samuel  B.  Bell,  James  Pierpont,  William  W. 
Brier,  Eli  Corwin,  and  Albert  F.  White,  together  with  the  churches  of 
Oakland,  Alemada,  and  Eden,  be  constituted  into  a  new  Presbytery,  to 
be  called  The  Presbytery  of  San  Jose;  to  hold  their  first  meeting  at 
Sacramento,  California,  on  Tuesday,  October  6th,  1857,  at  3  o'clock, 
p.  M. ;  and  to  be  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the  oldest  minister  present, 
who  is  to  preside  until  a  moderator  be  chosen. 

"That  the  Presbyteries  of  San  Francisco,  Sierra  Nevada,  and  San  Jose, 
be  erected  into  a  new  Synod,  to  be  called  The  Synod  of  Alta  California; 
to  hold  their  first  meeting  at  Sacramento,  California,  on  Tuesday,  Octo 
ber  6th,  1857,  at  7£  o'clock,  P.M.  j  and  to  be  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the 
oldest  minister  present,  who  is  to  preside  until  a  moderator  be  chosen. 

"The  report  was  adopted." — Minutes,  1857,  p.  383. 


THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  155 


SECTION  4. — OF  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY. 

1.  The  formation  of  the  General  Assembly  by  the  Synod. — 2.  Form  of  organization 
of  the  General  Assemby.  Committee  on  commissions. — 3.  Commissioners  from 
new  Presbyteries. — 4.  Ratio  of  representation  and  quorum. — 5.  Where  a  Pres 
bytery  sends  more  than  its  quota,  the  commissioners  last  elected  are  refused. — 
6.  Such  commissioners  only  should  be  elected  as  will  remain  during  the  sessions 
of  the  Assembly. — 7.  In  case  of  defective  commission,  or  loss  of  it,  mode  of  pro 
ceeding. — 8.  Principles  and  alternates  may  not  resign  their  places  to  each  other. 
— 9.  Commissioners  under  the  Plan  of  Union. — 10.  Corresponding  members. 
Ministers  casually  present  not  invited.  Delegates  from  corresponding  bodies 
may  deliberate,  but  not  vote.  The  secretary  of  any  of  the  permanent  committees, 
the  stated  and  permanent  clerks,  have  the  same  privileges  as  corresponding 
members  in  matters  relating  to  them. — 11.  Mode  of  choosing  the  moderator. — 
12.  Rules  of  the  General  Assembly. — 13.  The  moderator  has  no  other  than  the 
casting  vote. — 14.  Communications  through  the  moderator. — 15.  The  phrase 
"  last  moderator  present,"  construed  literally. — 16.  The  stated  clerk.  Appoint 
ment  and  duties.  To  publish  the  Minutes,  and  preserve  the  papers  of  the 
Assembly.  To  notify  Presbyteries  whose  commissioners  absent  themselves 
without  leave.  Salary  of  the  stated  clerk. — 17.  Permanent  clerk.  Appointment 
and  duties. — 18.  Temporary  clerks.  Choice  not  limited  to  members  of  Assem 
bly. — 19.  Standing  committees.  Their  duties.  I.  Bills  and  Overtures.  II. 
Judicial  Committee.  III.  On  the  Polity  of  the  Church.  IV.  On  Church  Exten 
sion.  V.  On  Education.  VI.  On  Publication.  VII.  On  Devotional  Exercises. 
VIII.  On  the  Narrative.  IX.  On  Leave  of  Absence.  X.  On  Mileage.  XI.  On 
Foreign  Missions. — 20.  The  Commissioners'  Fund. — 21.  The  Contingent  Fund. — 
22.  The  publication,  distribution,  and  price  of  the  Minutes. — 23.  The  Charter  of 
the  Trustees  of  the  General  Assembly. — 24.  Mode  of  electing  the  Trustees. — r25. 
Powers  of  the  General  Assembly. — 26.  The  Assembly  declines  to  decide  ques 
tions  in  thesi. 


1.   Formation  of  the  General  Assembly. 

a.  "  The  Synod,  considering  the  number  and  extent  of  the  churches 
under  their  care,  and  the  inconvenience  of  the  present  mode  of  govern 
ment  by  one  Synod, 

"  Resolved,  That  this  Synod  will  establish  out  of  its  own  body  three 
or  more  subordinate  Synods,  out  of  which  shall  be  composed  a  General 
Assembly,  Synod,  or  Council,  agreeably  to  a  system  hereafter  to  be 
adopted."— Minutes,  1786,  p.  517. 


156  V. — COURTS    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

I).  "Resolved  unanimously,  That  this  Synod  be  divided,  and  it  is 
hereby  divided  into  four  Synods,  agreeably  to  an  Act  made  and  provided 
for  that  purpose  in  the  sessions  of  Synod  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  eighty-six;  and  that  this  division  shall  commence  on  the 
dissolution  of  the  present  Synod. 

"Resolved,  That  the  first  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly,  to  be 
constituted  out  of  the  above  said  four  Synods,  be  held,  and  it  is  hereby 
appointed  to  be  held,  on  the  third  Thursday  of  May,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  eighty-nine,  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  at  eleven  o'clock,  A.M.  ;  and  that  Dr.  Witherspoon,  or, 
in  his  absence,  Dr.  Rogers,  open,  the  General  Assembly  with  a  sermon, 
and  preside  till  a  moderator  be  chosen." — Minutes,  1788,  p.  548. 

• 

2.    Organization  of  the  Assembly. 

[Usage  has  fixed  the  third  Thursday  of  May,  at  11  A.M.,  as  the  time 
for  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Assembly.  The  last  moderator  present 
preaches  the  sermon,  and  then  opens  the  session  with  prayer,  and  pre 
sides  during  the  organization  of  the  Assembly.  The  Committee  on 
Commissions  report;  irregular  commissions  are  referred  to  a  special 
committee,  who  report,  and  the  roll  is  completed.  A  moderator  and 
temporary  clerks  are  chosen,  and  the  Assembly  is  ready  for  business.] 

Rules  of  Organization — Committee  of  Commissions. 

a.  "I.  Immediately  after  each  Assembly  is  constituted  with  prayer, 
the  moderator  shall  appoint  a  Committee  of  Commissions. 

"II.  The  commissions  shall  then  be  called  for,  and  delivered  to  the 
Committee  of  Commissions;  and  the  person  delivering  each  commission 
shall  state  whether  the  principal  or  the  alternate  is  present. 

"  III.  After  the  delivery  of  the  commissions,  the  Assembly  shall  have 
a  recess,  until  such  an  hour  in  the  afternoon  as  will  afford  sufficient  time 
to  the  committee  to  examine  the  commissions. 

"  IV.  That  the  Committee  of  Commissions  shall,  in  the  afternoon, 
report  the  names  of  all  whose  commissions  shall  appear  to  be  regular 
and  constitutional ;  and  the  persons  whose  names  shall  be  thus  reported, 
shall  immediately  take  their  seats  and  proceed  to  business. 

"  V.  The  first  act  of  the  Assembly,  when  thus  ready  for  business, 
shall  be  the  appointment  of  a  Committee  of  Elections,  whose  duty  it 


THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  157 

shall  be  to  examine  all  informal  and  unconstitutional  commissions,  and 
report  on  the  same  as  soon  as  practicable." — Minutes,  1826,  p.  191. 

Standing  Committee  of  Commissions. 

1.  "  Resolved,  That  the  permanent  and  stated  clerks  be,  and  they 
hereby  are  appointed  a  standing  Committee  of  Commissions ;  and  that 
the  commissioners  to  future  Assemblies  hand  their  commissions  to  said 
committee,  in  the  room  in  which  the  Assembly  shall  hold  its  sessions, 
on  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  the  Assembly  opens,  previous  to 
11  o'clock;  and  further,  that  all  commissions  which  may  be  presented 
during  the  sessions  of  the  Assembly,  instead  of  being  read  in  the  house, 
shall  be  examined  by  said  committee,  and  reported  to  the  Assembly." — 
Minutes,  1829,  p.  269. 

3.    Commissioners  from  Neiv  Presbyteries. 

a.  "  The  committee  to  which  was  referred  an  overture  on  the  subject 
of  admitting  commissioners  from  newly-formed  Presbyteries  to  seats  in 
this  house,  reported  the  following  resolutions,  which  were  adopted,  viz. : 

"1.  Resolved,  That  it  be  adopted  as  a  standing  rule  of  this  house, 
that  commissioners  from  newly-formed  Presbyteries  shall,  before  taking 
their  seats  as  members  of  this  body,  produce  satisfactory  evidence  that 
the  Presbyteries  to  which  they  belong  have  been  regularly  organized 
according  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Church,  and  are  in  connection  with 
the  General  Assembly. 

a2.  Resolved  also,  That  such  commissioners  shall  be  entitled  to  fur 
nish  the  evidence  required  in  the  foregoing  resolution,  before  the  house 
shall  proceed  to  the  choice  of  a  moderator/' — Minutes,  1822,  p.  48. 

b.  "Resolved  1,  That  no  commissioner  from  a  newly-formed  Presbytery 
shall  be  permitted  to  take  his  seat,  nor  shall  such  commissioner  be  re 
ported  by  the  Committee  on  Commissions,  until  the  Presbytery  shall  have 
been  duly  reported  by  the  Synod,  and  recognized  as  such  by  the  As 
sembly  ;  and  that  the  same  rule  apply  when  the  name  of  any  Presbytery 
has  been  changed. 

"2.  When  it  "shall  appear  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  General  Assem 
bly,  that  any  new  Presbytery  has  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  unduly 
increasing  the  representation,  the  General  Assembly  will  by  a  vote  of  the 
majority  refuse  to  receive  the  delegates  of  Presbyteries  so  formed,  and 


158  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

may  direct  the  Synod  to  which  such  Presbytery  belongs  to  reunite  it  to 
the  Presbytery  or  Presbyteries  to  which  the  members  were  before  at 
tached."— Minutes,  1837,  p.  446. 

4.  Ratio  of  Representation  and  Quorum. 

a.  u  Every  Presbytery  shall,  at  their  last  stated  meeting  preceding 
the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly,  depute  to  the  General  Assembly 
commissioners,  in  the  following  proportion  :  Each  Presbytery  consisting 
of  not  more  than  six  ministers,  shall  send  one  minister  and  one  elder ; 
each  Presbytery  consisting  of  more  than  six-  ministers,  and  not  more  than 
twelve,  shall  send  two  ministers  and  two  elders ;  and  so  in  the  same  pro 
portion  for  every  six  ministers.  And  these  commissioners,  or  any  four 
teen  of  them,  whereof  seven  to  be  ministers,  being  met  on  the  day  and 
at  the  place  appointed,  shall  be  competent  to  enter  upon  business.  And 
the  judicatory  thus  constituted  shall  bear  the  style  and  title  of  The 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America."— Minutes,  1786,  p.  524. 

In  1819,  the  ratio  was  altered  by  "substituting  the  word  nine  for  the 
word  six,  and  the  word  eighteen  in  place  of  the  word  twelve.7' — Mi 
nutes,  1819,  p.  700. 

In  1826  the  ratio  was  increased  from  nine  to  twelve,  and  from  eigh 
teen  to  twenty-four. — Minutes,  1826,  p.  168. 

The  Present  Ratio. 

I.  "  Resolved,  That  the  2d  section  of  the  12th  chapter  of  the  Form  of 
Government  be,  and  the  same  is,  hereby  so  amended  as  to  read  thus : 
The  General  Assembly  shall  consist  of  an  equal  delegation  of  bishops 
and  elders  from  each  Presbytery,  in  the  following  proportion,  viz. :  Each 
Presbytery  consisting  of  not  more  than  twenty-four  ministers,  shall  send 
one  minister  and  one  elder ;  and  each  Presbytery  consisting  of  more 
than  twenty-four  ministers,  shall  send  two  ministers  and  two  elders ;  and 
in  like  proportion  for  every  twenty-four  ministers  in  every  Presbytery ; 
and  these  delegates  so  appointed  shall  be  styled  Commissioners  to  the 
General  Assembly."— Minutes,  1833,  p.  401. 

"  The  Assembly  rule  and  ordain  that  the  ratio  of  Presbyterial  repre 
sentation  be  reduced  to  its  minimum,  altering  our  Form  of  Government 
(chap,  xii,  sec.  2),  so  that  said  section  shall  be  hereafter  alone,  and  in 
all,  and  read  as  follows,  viz. :  The  General  Assembly  shall  consist  of  an 


THE   GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  159* 

equal  delegation  of  bishops  and  ruling  elders  from  the  Presbyteries,  in 
the  simple  proportion  of  one  minister  and  one  elder  from  each  Presby 
tery.  And  these  commissioners  so  appointed  shall  be  styled  Commis 
sioners  to  the  General  Assembly." — Minutes,  1840,  p.  17. 

[This,  though  acted  on  from  1841  to  1850,  was  "  never  submitted  to 
the  Presbyteries  and  constitutionally  adopted"  (Minutes,  1819,  p.  183). 
It  was  sent  down  as  an  overture  in  1849,  and  rejected,  28  to  56  (Mi 
nutes,  1850,  p.  318).  The  ratio  remains,  therefore,  as  fixed  in  1833, 
above.] 

5.  Where  a  Presbytery  sends  more  than  its  proportion  of  Commissioners, 

the  last  elected  are  refused. 

"The  right  of  two  persons  to  a  seat  in  the  Assembly  from  the  Presby 
tery  of  Portage  was  questioned ;  whereupon  their  case  was  referred  to 
the  Committee  of  Elections.  After  considering  the  subject,  the  commit 
tee  reported  that  the  names  of  the  minister  and  elder  last  appointed 
should  be  erased ;  because  the  Presbytery  is  entitled  to  no  more  than 
two  commissioners.  This  report  was  adopted." — Minutes,  1835,  p.  466. 

6.  Such  Commissioners  only  should  be  appointed  as  will  remain  through 

out  the  Sessions. 

"  It  is,  in  the  opinion  of  this  General  Assembly,  highly  important 
that  commissioners  should  not  be  appointed,  unless  it  shall  satisfactorily 
appear  to  the  several  Presbyteries  that  they  design  to  remain  throughout 
the  sessions." — Minutes,  1827,  p.  207. 

7.  In  case  of  the  Defect  of  a  Commission,  or  its  Absence. 

[The  case  of  the  claimant  is  referred  to  a  special  committee,  who,  on 
satisfactory  evidence  to  them  that  he  has  been  elected,  recommend  that 
his  name  be  enrolled.] 

a.  The  committee  further  reported,  that  the  commission  of  David  M. 
Wilson,  a  ruling  elder  from  the  Presbytery  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
wants  the  signature  of  the  clerk ;  and  that  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Graves,  of 
the  Presbytery  of  Alton,  is  without  a  regular  commission,  but  has  pre 
sented  a  certificate  of  his  election  from  the  stated  clerk  of  that  Presby 
tery, 


160  V. — COURTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

"  These  cases  were  referred  to  Messrs.  Judd,  Lathrop,  and  Rood,  as  a 
Committee  of  Elections.  The  committee  reported  favorably,  and,  at 
their  recommendation,  the  names  of  Messrs.  Wilson  and  Graves  were  in 
serted  on  the  roll." — Minutes,  1839,  p.  8. 

Where  the  Form  is  substantially  observed,  and  the  Commission  authen 
ticated  by  either  Moderator  or  Clerk,  the  name  is  to  be  enrolled. 

b.  "  The  Committee  on  Commissions  further  reported,  that  the  com 
missions  from  the  Presbyteries  of  Buffalo,  Otsego,  Bath,  Elyria,  and 
Logansport,  want  the  signature  of  the  moderator,  that  the   commission 
from  the  Presbytery  of  Hudson  wants  the  signature  of  the  stated  clerk, 
and  that  the  commissions  from  the  Presbytery  of  Tioga,  though  regu 
larly  signed,  are  not  after  the  form  prescribed  by  the  Constitution. 

"  It  was  ordered  that,  where  the  form  is  substantially  observed,  and 
the  commission  authenticated  by  either  moderator  or  clerk,  the  name  be 
enrolled ;  and  the  commissioners  from  these  Presbyteries  were  enrolled 
accordingly." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  166. 

c.  "  The  committee  further  reported  the  case  of  the  Rev.  A.  Cogswell 
Frissell,  from  the  Presbytery  of  North  River,  as  appearing  without  a 
commission. 

"  The  Assembly  having  received  other  and  satisfactory  evidence  of  his 
appointment  as  a  commissioner,  it  was  resolved  that  Mr.  Frissell  be  re 
ceived  as  a  member,  and  his  name  was  put  upon  the  roll  of  the  Assem 
bly. "—Jl/mwfes,  1852,  p.  151. 

d.  "  The  Committee  on  Elections  reported,  and,  on  their  recommenda 
tion,  the  Rev.  Eleazar  T.  Ball,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ithaca,  Elder  Wm. 
Hubbard,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Grand  River,  and  Elder  John  D.  Arm 
strong,  of   the  Presbytery  of  Providence,  who  had  appeared  without 
commissions,  were  admitted  to  seats  in  the  Assembly." — Minutes,  1853, 
p.  305. 

Change  of  Usage. 

e.  "  The  stated  clerk  also  reported  the  following  persons  as  appearing 
without  commissions,  and  that  their  appointment  is  sustained  by  the  tes 
timony  of  commissioners  present : 

"  Rev.  George  Painter,  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  River;  Elder  Milton 
J.  Snow,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Portage;  Rev.  Reed  Wilkinson,  of  the 


THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  161 

Presbytery  of  Athens ;  Elder  John  C.  Bestow,  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Athens;  Rev.  James  B.  Shaw,  D.D.,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Rochester; 
Elder  Orlando  Hastings,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Rochester ;  Elder  Marvin 
Freeman,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Troy ;  Elder  Peter  B.  Ackart,  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Troy;  Rev.  George  A.  Howard,  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Catskill ;  Rev.  Thomas  Brainerd,  D.D.,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadel 
phia  4th. 

"  Whereupon  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  the  above  names  be  inserted  in  the  roll  as  commis 
sioners. — Minutes,  1854,  p.  480. 

f.  "  The  permanent  clerk  also  reported  the  following  persons  as  appear 
ing  without  commissions,  and  that  their  appointment  is  sustained  by  tes 
timony  satisfactory  to  the  committee  : 

"  Rev.  Seth  G.  Clark,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Cleveland ;  Rev.  John  G. 
Atterbury,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Salem ;  Elder  Solomon  Beckley,  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Keokuk ;  Elder  William  Porter,  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Franklin. 

"  Whereupon  it  was 

"Resolved,  That  the  names  of  the  above  persons  be  inserted  in  the  roll 
as  commissioners. — Minutes,  1855,  p.  8.  1856,  p.  182. 

"  The  stated  clerk  also  reported  that  Elder  John  Dunning  had  presented 
an  irregular  commission  from  the  Presbytery  of  Rockaway ;  which  was 
referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of  Rev.  Horace  P.  Bogue  and  Rev. 
Henry  Kendall. 

"  The  Committee  reported  that  the  name  of  Mr.  Dunning  be  added  to 
the  roll."— Minutes,  1857,  p.  374. 


8.   Principals  and  Alternates. 

[From  the  origin  of  the  General  Assembly,  it  was  frequent  usage  for 
the  principal  to  resign  his  seat  to  the  alternate,  and  vice  versa.  But 
in  1827,  the  following  act  was  adopted.] 

"  The  Committee  to  whom  were  referred  Overtures  No.  4  and  5,  con 
taining  resolutions  of  the  Presbyteries  of  Richland  and  Charleston  Union, 
disapproving  the  practice  of  permitting  members  of  the  General  Assem 
bly  '  at  various  stages  of  the  sessions  to  resign  their  seats  to  others, 
called  alternates/  made  the  following  report,  viz. : 

"  These  overtures  present  two  points  of  inquiry. 

11 


162  V COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"  1.  Whether  the  Constitution  of  the  Church,  according  to  a  fair 
interpretation,  permits  the  practice  complained  of  by  these  Presbyteries. 

"2.  If  this  practice  is  allowed  by  the  Constitution,  whether  it  is 
expedient  that  it  should  be  continued. 

"  As  to  the  first  question,  the  only  authority  on  this  subject,  as  far  as 
appears  to  your  committee,  is  found  in  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xxii, 
sec.  1,  in  these  words :  '  And  as  much  as  possible  to  prevent  all  failure 
in  the  representation  of  the  Presbyteries,  arising  from  unforeseen  acci 
dents  to  those  first  appointed,  it  may  be  expedient  for  each  Presbytery, 
in  the  room  of  each  commissioner,  to  appoint  also  an  alternate  commis 
sioner  to  supply  his  place  in  case  of  necessary  absence.' 

"  The  first  remark  obviously  presenting  itself  here  is,  that  the  language 
quoted,  so  far  from  making  the  appointment  of  alternates  necessary,  con 
tains  nothing  more  than  a  recommendation  of  the  measure,  expressed  in 
very  gentle  terms. 

u  In  the  next  place,  although  the  terms  of  the  article  may  be  so  inter 
preted  as  to  make  it  provide  for  the  necessary  absence  of  a  commissioner 
at  any  time  during  the  sessions  of  the  Assembly,  yet  it  appears  most 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitu 
tion  was  to  provide  for  those  unforeseen  events  which  might  altogether 
prevent  the  attendance  of  the  primary  commissioners.  For  it  is  not  at 
all  probable  that  wise  men,  in  drawing  up  a  Constitution  for  a  Church 
judicature  of  the  highest  dignity,  whose  business  is  often  both  very 
important  and  extremely  difficult,  would  provide  for  a  change  in  the 
members  of  the  court,  after  it  should  be  constituted,  and  become  deeply 
engaged  in  the  transaction  of  weighty  affairs,  and  the  investigation  of 
perplexing  questions.  A  measure  of  this  kind  is,  the  committee  believe, 
without  example,  and  therefore  the  construction,  which  would  support 
it,  is  thought  to  be  erroneous. 

"  If,  in  this  case,  the  committee  have  judged  correctly,  they  are  much 
more  confident  in  the  remarks  that  the  Constitution  does  not  justify  the 
practice,  now  very  common,  of  the  arrangements,  for  convenience,  made 
by  the  primary  commissioner  and  his  alternate,  according  to  which  the 
one  or  the  other,  as  the  case  may  be,  takes  his  seat  for  a  few  days  in  the 
Assembly,  resigns  it,  and  goes  to  his  secular  business. 

"  But,  secondly,  if  it  should  be  determined  that  the  Constitution  per 
mits  these  changes,  in  some  instances,  the  committee  are  constrained  to 
believe  that  the  practice  is,  on  the  whole,  entirely  inexpedient. 

"1.  Because  it  creates  dissatisfaction  among  many  brethren,  as  well 
those  who  have  complained  of  it,  as  others  who  have  held  their  peace. 


THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  163 

"2.  It  gives  an  invidious  advantage  to  the  neighboring  Presbyteries 
over  those  which  are  remote. 

"  3.  It  may  be  the  occasion  of  a  number  of  abuses,  against  which  the 
Assembly  ought  to  guard,  but  which  the  committee  do  not  think  it  need 
ful  to  specify. 

"4.  But  chiefly,  it  often  embarrasses  and  retards  the  proceedings  of 
the  Assembly,  because  members  of  committees  resign  to  alternates  before 
the  committees  to  which  they  belong  have  finished  their  business,  or 
received  a  discharge  from  the  house ;  because  new  members,  coming 
into  the  Assembly  in  the  midst  of  business,  often  cannot  possibly  under 
stand  it  sufficiently  to  decide  on  it  wisely,  and  because  speeches  made  in 
relation  to  matters  imperfectly  understood  often  shed  darkness,  and 
throw  perplexity  on  them,  and  thus  very  much  time  is  wasted  in  dis 
cussions  which  profit  nothing. 

"  Finally,  the  practice  is  thought  to  be  derogatory  to  the  dignity  and 
usefulness  of  the  General  Assembly.  For  these  reasons,  the  committee 
recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution  : 

"  Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  General  Assembly,  the  con 
struction  of  the  Constitution,  Form  of  Government,  chapter  xxii,  section 
1,  which  allows  commissioners,  after  holding  their  seats  for  a  time,  to 
resign  them  to  their  alternates,  or  which  allows  alternates  to  sit  for  a 
while,  and  then  resign  their  places  to  their  principals,  is  erroneous ;  that 
the  practice  growing  out  of  this  construction  is  inexpedient,  and  that  it 
ought  to  be  discontinued. 

"  The  above  report  was  accepted,  and  the  resolution  with  which  it 
closes  was  adopted/'— Minutes,  1827,  pp.  209,  210. 

Rule  dispensed  witli  under  peculiar  Circumstances. 

I).  "Rev.  Jacob  D.  Mitchell  informed  the  Assembly  that,  as  the  alternate 
named  in  the  commission  from  West  Hanover,  his  principal,  Rev.  James 
Wharey,  not  being  present,  he  had,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Assem 
bly,  taken  his  seat  as  a  member,  and  that  Mr.  Wharey  had  now  arrived, 
having  been  detained  in  the  Providence  of  God.  Mr.  Mitchell  moved 
that  he  have  leave  to  resign  his  seat  in  favor  of  Mr.  Wharey.  It  was 
then  moved  and  carried,  that  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the 
case,  the  standing  rule  be  dispensed  with,  and  that  Mr.  Wharey  be 
admitted  a  member  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Mitchell/' — Minutes,  1836,  p. 
245. 


164  v. — COURTS  or  THE  CHURCH. 

9.    Commissioners  under  the  Plan  of  Union. 

a.  "A  commission,  signed  by  the  moderator  and  clerk  of  the  Pres 
bytery  of  Hartford,  appointing  Mr.  Daniel  "W.  Lathrop,  one  of  the 
standing  committee  of  the  church  in  Ellsworth  a  commissioner  to  this 
Assembly,  was  read. 

[The  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee,  who  reported  as  follows. 
The  report  was  adopted  unanimously.] 

"Whereas,  a  conventional  agreement  was  entered  into  with  the 
General  Association  of  Connecticut  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred*  and  one, 
for  the  purpose  of  preventing  alienation,  and  promoting  harmony  in  those 
new  settlements  which  are  composed  of  persons  adhering  to  both  those 
bodies : 

"And  whereas,  in  the  said  agreement  it  is  provided,  that  in  a  church 
composed  in  part  of  Congregationalists  and  in  part  of  Presbyterians,  the 
church  may  choose  a  standing  committee  for  the  exercise  of  discipline  j 
and  moreover,  that  the  standing  committee  of  any  church  may  depute 
one  of  their  body  to  attend  the  Presbytery,  and  that  the  person  so  de 
puted  may  have  the  same  right  to  sit  and  act  in  Presbytery  as  a  ruling 
elder  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  : 

'•'And,  moreover,  as  in  the  mixed  state  of  Christian  society  contem 
plated  in  the  agreement  aforesaid,  Presbyteries  have  sometimes  appointed 
members  of  standing  committees  so  admitted  into  their  body  as  commis 
sioners  to  represent  them  in  General  Assembly.  Therefore, 

"Resolved,  In  order  to  carry  into  effect  the  friendly  object  of  the 
above  agreement,  that  Daniel  W.  Lathrop  be  admitted  as  a  member  of 
this  Assembly. 

"Resolved,  That  it  be  affectionately  recommended  to  the  brethren 
who  compose  mixed  societies  of  this  kind,  so  far  as  expediency  will 
allow,  to  conform  to  the  letter  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  making  their  appointments  and  organizing  their  congrega 
tions."— Jltoiwfcs,  1820,  pp.  721,  722,  724. 

L.  "  Mr.  Josiah  Bissell,  from  the  Presbytery  of  Rochester,  appeared 
in  the  Assembly,  and  produced  a  commission  as  an  elder  from  that 
Presbytery.  A  member  of  that  Presbytery  informed  the  Assembly  that 
Mr.  Bissell  had  not  been  set  apart  as  an  elder;  but  that  he  was  ap 
pointed,  as  was  supposed  by  the  Presbytery,  in  conformity  with  the 
conventional  agreement  between  the  General  Assembly  and  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut.  After  considerable  discussion,  it  was 


THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  165 

"Resolved,  That  Mr.  Bissell  be  admitted  as  a  member  of  the  As 
sembly." 

"  The  following  protest  was  offered,  and  ordered  to  be  entered  on  the 
Minutes,  viz.  : 

"  The  subscribers  enter  their  dissent  and  protest  against  the  resolution 
by  which  Mr.  Josiah  Bissell  was  admitted  as  a  member  of  this  General 
Assembly,  for  the  following  reasons  : 

"  1.  Because  he  was  neither  an  ordained  minister,  nor  a  ruling  elder; 
and  consequently  he  was  destitute  of  the  qualifications  which  the 'Con 
stitution  of  our  Church  requires  in  commissioners  appointed  by  Pres 
byteries  as  their  representatives  in  this  body. 

"2.  Because  he  was  not  even  a  'committee-man,'  on  which  ground 
some  might,  in  existing  circumstances,  have  been  disposed  to  advocate 
his  admission  as  a  member. 

"3.  Because  he  had  not,  either  from  the  Constitution,  or  from  the 
conventional  agreement  [the  Plan  of  Union],  the  shadow  of  a  claim  to  a 
seat  in  this  house." 

[In  reply,  it  is  said  that]  "  Mr.  Bissell  was  admitted  by  the  Assembly 
for  the  following  reasons  : 

"  1.  The  commission  which  Mr.  Bissell  produced  was  in  due  form, 
and  signed  by  the  proper  officers  of  the  Presbytery. 

"2.  Every  Presbytery  has  a  right  to  judge  of  the  qualifications  of  its 
own  members ;  and  it  is  amenable  to  Synod,  and  not  to  the  General  As 
sembly,  except  by  way  of  appeal,  or  reference,  or  complaint,  regularly 
brought  up  from  the  inferior  judicatories,  which  has  not  been  done  in 
the  present  case. 

"3.  It  would  be  a  dangerous  precedent,  and  would  lead  to  the  de 
struction  of  all  order  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  to  permit  unauthorized 
verbal  testimony  to  set  aside  an  authenticated  written  document." — 
Minutes,  1826,  pp.  164,  178,  181. 

c.  [The  Committee  of  Elections  reported]  :  "  With  respect  to  the 
case  of  the  standing  committee-man  from  Grand  River  Presbytery,  they 
decline  expressing  any  opinion  as  to  the  constitutional  question  of  the 
right  of  such  to  a  seat  in  the  Assembly. 

"  The  Assembly  proceeded  to  consider  the  case  of  the  person  denomi 
nated  'standing  committee'  in  the  commission;  and  after  considerable 
discussion,  it  was 

"Resolved,  That  the  member  be  received  and  enrolled  among  the  list 
of  members." — Minutes,  1831,  p.  318. 


166  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

d.  "  The  consideration  of  the  overture  on  the  right  of  members  of 
standing  committees  to  be  members  of  the  General  Assembly  was  re 
sumed.     After  considerable  discussion,  the  overture  was  adopted,  and 
is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  the  General  Assembly  the  ap 
pointment  by  some  Presbyteries,  as  has  occurred  in  a  few  cases,  of  mem 
bers  of  standing  committees  to  be  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  is 
inexpedient  and  of  questionable  constitutionality,  and  therefore  ought 
not  in  future  to  be  made." — Minutes,  1831,  p.  338. 

e.  "  The  Committee  [of  Commissions]  also  reported  two  commissions 
for  members  of  standing  committees,  instead  of  ruling  elders,  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Grand  River.     These  commissions  were  referred  to  the 
Committee  of  Elections. 

"  The  Committee  of  Elections  reported  that  the  commissions  referred 
to  them  from  the  Presbytery  of  Grand  River  had  been  withdrawn  by 
the  persons  presenting  them/7 — Minutes,  1832,  pp.  354,  356. 

f.  "  The   Committee  [of  Commissions]   reported   that   Mr.  Erastus 
Upson,  a  standing  committee-man  from  the  Presbytery  of  Oswego,  had 
been  appointed  a  member  of  this  body.     A  motion  was  made  to  refer 
this  case  to  the  Committee  of  Elections,  which  was  negatived.     It  was 
then 

"  Resolved,  That  Mr.  Upson  have  leave  to  withdraw  his  application/7 — 
Minutes,  1833,  p.  392. 

g.  "  The  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  records  of  the  Synod 
of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  made  a  report;  when  the  records  were 
approved,  with  the  exception  of  a  resolution  recorded  on  pages  218  and 
219,  on  the  subject  of  admitting  the  representatives  of  Congregational 
and  Independent  churches  to  be  members    of  their  Presbyteries  and 
Synod,  in  the  same  manner  as  ruling  elders/7 — Minutes,  1832,  p.  370. 


10.    Corresponding  Members.    Ministers  casually  present,  not  invited. 

a.  "  Upon  motion,  it  was  agreed,  That,  whereas  this  Assembly,  copy 
ing  the  example  of  their  predecessors,  have  admitted  several  ministers, 
who  are  not  commissioners,  to  join  in  their  deliberations  and  conclusions, 
but  not  to  vote  on  any  question  •  and  although  this  Assembly  has  been 
much  indebted  to  the  wise  counsels  and  friendly  assistance  of  these 
corresponding  ministers,  nevertheless,  on  mature  deliberation,  it  was 

"  Resolved,  As  the  opinion  of  this  house, 


THE   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  167 

"  1.  That  no  delegated  body  has  a  right  to  transfer  its  powers,  or  any 
part  thereof,  unless  express  provision  is  in  its  Constitution. 

"  2.  That  this  Assembly  is  a  delegated  body,  and  no  such  provision 
is  in  its  Constitution.  * 

"3.  Although  such  admission  has  hitherto  produced  no  bad  conse 
quences,  it  may,  nevertheless,  at  some  future  day,  be  applied  to  party 
purposes,  and  cause  embarrassment  and  delay :  wherefore, 

"  Resolved,  4.  Lastly,  that  the  practice  of  this  Assembly,  in  this  case, 
ought  not  to  be  used  as  a  precedent  in  future/' — Minutes,  1791,  p.  42. 

Delegates  from  other  Bodies. 

I.  [At  first  these  were  not  allowed  to  vote;  but  in  1794,  the  Assem 
bly  asked,  and  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  acceded  to  the 
request,  "  That  the  delegates  from  these  bodies,  respectively,  shall  have 
a  right,  not  only  to  sit  and  deliberate,  but  also  to  vote  on  all  questions 
which  may  be  determined  by  either  of  them." — Minutes,  1794,  p.  80 ; 
1795,  p.  96. 

[The  Assembly  afterwards,  1827,  asked  that  the  right  of  voting  be 
given  up;  and,  since  1830,  corresponding  members  have  the  right  only 
to  sit  and  deliberate,  but  not  to  vote.]  See  chap,  xi,  sec.  2. 

The  Secretary  of  any  of  the  permanent   Committees,  the  stated  and 
temporary  Clerks,  have  the  privileges  of  corresponding  Members. 

c.  "  Resolved,  That  it  be  a  standing  rule  of  the  Assembly,  that  the 
secretary  of  any  of  the  permanent  committees  shall  be  entitled  to  the 
same  privilege  as  the  delegates  from  corresponding  bodies,  while  the 
business  intrusted  to  that  committee  is  under  consideration  in  the  house. 

"The  Assembly  voted  that  the  same  privilege  be  extended  to  the 
stated  and  permanent  clerks,  in  reference  to  matters  pertaining  to  their 
official  duties."— Minutes,  1858,  p.  581. 

11.    Of  the  mode  of  Choosing  the  Moderator  of  the  Assembly. 

"On  motion  agreed,  that  it  be  the  standing  rule  of  the  General 
Assembly,  in  choosing  a  moderator,  that  any  commissioner  may  nomi 
nate  a  candidate  for  the  chair.  The  candidates  so  pointed  out  shall  then 
severally  give  their  votes  for  some  one  of  their  number,  and  withdraw ; 
when  the  remaining  commissioners  shall  proceed  viva  voce,  to  choose 


168  V. — COURTS    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

by  a  plurality  of  voices  one  of  the  said  candidates  for  moderator." — 
Minutes,  1791,  p.  39. 

12.  Rules  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  Moderator's  address  to  his  successor  in  office,  introductory  to  the  Rules  of  Order. 

"  SIR  :  It  is  my  duty  to  inform  you,  and  announce  to  this  house,  that 
you  are  duly  elected  to  the  office  of  moderator  in  this  General  Assembly. 
For  your  direction  in  office,  and  for  the  direction  of  this  Assembly  in  all 
their  deliberations,  before  I  leave  this  seat,  I  am  to  read  to  you  and  this 
house,  the  rules  contained  in  the  records  of  this  Assembly ;  which,  I 
doubt  not,  will  be  carefully  observed  by  both  in  conducting-  the  business 
that  may  come  before  you. 

"  1.  The  moderator  shall  take  the  chair  precisely  at  the  hour  to  which 
the  Assembly  stands  adjourned;  shall  immediately  call  the  members  to 
order ;  and,  on  the  appearance  of  a  quorum,  shall  open  the  session  with 
prayer. 

"2.  If  a  quorum  be  not  assembled  at  the  hour  appointed,  any  two 
members  shall  be  competent  to  adjourn  from  time  to  time,  that  an  oppor 
tunity  may  be  given  for  a  quorum  to  assemble. 

"  3.  After  calling  the  roll,  the  minutes  of  the  last  sitting  shall  be  read, 
and  if  requisite,  corrected. 

"4.  The  General  Assembly,  at  every  meeting,  shall  appoint  a  Com 
mittee  of  Bills  and  Overtures,  to  prepare  and  digest  business  for  the 
Assembly.  Any  person  thinking  himself  aggrieved  by  this  committee, 
may  complain  to  the  Assembly. 

"  5.  Petitions,  questions  relating  either  to  doctrine  or  order,  and,  usual 
ly,  all  new  propositions  tending  to  general  laws,  shall  be  laid  before  the 
Committee  of  Bills  and  Overtures,  before  they  be  offered  to  the  Assembly. 

"  6.  The  Assembly  shall  also,  at  every  meeting,  appoint  a  committee, 
to  be  styled  the  Judicial  Committee,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  take  into 
consideration  all  appeals  and  references  brought  to  the  Assembly;  to 
ascertain  whether  they  are  in  order,  to  digest  and  arrange  all  the  docu 
ments  relating  to  the  same,  and  to  propose  to  the  Assembly  the  best 
method  of  proceeding  in  each  case. 

"7.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  moderator,  at  all  times,  to  preserve  order ; 
and  to  endeavor  to  conduct  all  business  before  the  Assembly  to  a  speedy 
and  proper  result. 

"8.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  clerk,  as  soon  as  possible  after  the 


THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  169 

commencement  of  the  sessions  of  the  Assembly,  to  form  a  complete  roll 
of  the  members  present,  and  put  the  same  into  the  hands  of  the  mode 
rator;  and  it  shall  also  be  the  duty  of  the  clerk,  whenever  any  additional 
members  take  their  seats,  to  add  their  names,  in  their  proper  places,  to 
the  said  roll. 

"  9.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  clerk,  immediately  to  file  all  papers,  in 
the  order  in  which  they  have  been  read,  with  proper  endorsements,  and 
to  keep  them  in  perfect  order. 

"  10.  The  moderator  may  speak  to  points  of  order  in  preference  to 
other  members,  rising  from  his  seat  for  that  purpose ;  and  shall  decide 
questions  of  order,  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  Assembly  by  any  two 
members. 

"11.  Business  left  unfinished  at  the  last  sitting,  is,  ordinarily,  to  be 
taken  up  first. 

"12.  A  motion  made  must  be  seconded,  and  afterwards  repeated  by 
the  moderator,  or  read  aloud,  before  it  is  debated;  and  every  motion 
shall  be  reduced  to  writing,  if  the  moderator,  or  any  member  require  it. 

"13.  Any  member  who  shall  have  made  a  motion,  shall  have  liberty 
to  withdraw  it,  with  the  consent  of  his  second,  before  any  debate  has 
taken  place  thereon ;  but  not  afterwards,  without  the  consent  of  the 
Assembly. 

*  "  14.  On  questions  of  order,  adjournment,  postponement,  commit 
ment,  or  the  previous  question,  no  member  shall  speak  more  than  once ; 
on  all  other  questions,  each  member  may  speak  twice,  but  not  oftener, 
without  the  express  permission  of  the  Assembly. 

"15.  When  a  question  is  under  debate,  no  motion  shall  be  received, 
except  to  amend  it,  to  commit  it,  to  postpone  it,  for  the  previous  question, 
or  to  adjourn. 

"  16.  An  amendment  may  be  moved  on  any  motion,  and  shall  be 
decided  before  the  original  motion. 

"  17.  If  a  motion  under  debate  contains  several  parts,  any  two  mem 
bers  may  have  it  divided,  and  a  question  taken  on  each  part. 

*  "  18.  The  previous  question  shall  be  in  this  form  :  '  Shall  the  main 
question  be  now  put  ?'  and,  until  it  is  decided,  shall  preclude  all  amend 
ment,  and  further  debate  on  the  main  question. 

f  "19.  If  the  previous  question  be  decided  in  the  affirmative,  the  debate 

*  Modified  by  act  of  Assembly  of  1851.    See  p.  172.    The  14th  and  18th.  here, 
correspond  with  the  13th  and  17th  of  the  "Rules  for  Judicatories/' 

t  Modified  by  act  of  Assembly  of  1835.     See  p.  172. 


170  v. — COURTS  or  THE  CHURCH. 

on  the  main  question  may  proceed ;  if  in  the  negative,  the  effect  shall 
be  to  arrest  the  discussion,  and  to  produce  an  indefinite  postponement. 

"  20.  A  question  shall  not  be  again  called  up,  or  reconsidered  at  the 
same  sessions  of  the  Assembly  at  which  it  has  been  decided,  except  by 
the  consent  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  who  were  present  at  the 
decision;  and  unless  the  motion  to  reconsider  be  made  and  seconded  by 
persons  who  voted  with  the  majority. 

"21.  A  subject  which  has  been  indefinitely  postponed,  either  by  the 
operation  of  the  previous  question,  or  by  a  direct  motion  for  indefinite 
postponement,  shall  not  be  again  called  up,  during  the  same  sessions  of 
the  Assembly,  except  by  the  consent  of  three-fourths  of  the  members 
who  were  present  at  the  decision. 

"22.  Every  member,  when  speaking,  shall  address  himself  to  the 
moderator;  and  shall  treat  his  fellow-members,  and  especially  the 
moderator,  with  decorum  and  respect. 

"23.  Without  express  permission,  no  member,  while  business  is  going 
on,  shall  engage  in  private  conversation ;  nor  shall  members  address  one 
another,  nor  any  person  present,  but  through  the  moderator. 

"  24.  No  speaker  shall  be  interrupted,  unless  he  be  out  of  order,  or 
for  the  purpose  of  correcting  mistakes  or  misrepresentations. 

"25.  It  is  indispensable,  that  members  maintain  great  gravity  and 
dignity  while  judicially  convened;  that  they  attend  closely,  in  their 
speeches,  to  the  subject  under  consideration,  and  avoid  prolix  and  de 
sultory  harangues;  and  when  they  deviate  from  the  subject,  it  is  the 
privilege  of  any  member,  and  the  duty  of  the  moderator,  to  call  them 
to  order. 

"  26.  No  member,  in  the  course  of  debate,  shall  be  allowed  to  indulge 
in  personal  reflections. 

"  27.  If  more  than  one  member  rise  to  speak  at  the  same  time,  the 
member  who  is  most  distant  from  the  moderator's  chair  shall  speak  first. 

"  28.  When  more  than  three  members  shall  be  standing  at  the  same 
time,  the  moderator  shall  require  all  to  take  their  seats,  the  person  only 
excepted  who  may  be  speaking. 

"29.  If  any  member  act,  in  any  respect,  in  a  disorderly  manner,  it 
shall  be  the  privilege  of  any  member,  and  the  duty  of  the  moderator, 
to  call  him  to  order. 

"  30.  If  any  member  consider  himself  aggrieved  by  a  decision  of  the 
moderator,  it  shall  be  his  privilege  to  appeal  to  the  Assembly;  and  the 
question  on  such  appeal,  shall  be  taken  without  debate. 

"31.  Any  member  who  may  think  himself  aggrieved  by  a  decision 


THE    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY.  171 

of  the  General  Assembly,  shall  have  his  dissent,  or  protest,  with  his 
reasons,  entered  on  the  records  of  the  Assembly,  or  filed  among  their 
papers,  if  given  in  before  the  rising  of  the  Assembly.* 

"  32.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  moderator  to  appoint  all  committees,  except 
in  those  cases  in  which  the  Assembly  shall  decide  otherwise. 

"33.  The  person  first  named  on  any  committee,  shall  be  considered 
as  the  chairman  thereof,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  convene  the  com 
mittee  ;  and  in  case  of  his  absence,  or  inability  to  act,  the  second-named 
member  shall  take  his  place,  and  perform  his  duties. 

"34.  When  .various  motions  are  made  with  respect  to  the  filling  of 
blanks  with  particular  numbers  or  times,  the  question  shall  always  be 
first  taken  on  the  highest  number,  and  the  longest  time. 

"  35.  When  the  moderator  has  commenced  taking  the  vote,  no  further 
debate  or  remark  shall  be  admitted,  unless  there  has  evidently  been  a 
mistake ;  in  which  case,  the  mistake  shall  be  rectified,  and  the  moderator 
shall  recommence  taking  the  vote. 

"36.  When  a  vote  is  taken  by  ballot,  the  moderator  shall  vote  with 
the  other  members ;  but  he  shall  not  vote  in  any  other  case,  unless  the 
Assembly  be  equally  divided,  when,  if  he  do  not  choose  to  vote,  the 
question  shall  be  lost. 

"  37.  The  yeas  and  nays  on  any  question,  shall  not  be  recorded,  unless 
it  be  required  by  one-third  of  the  members  present. 

"38.  Whenever  the  Assembly  is  about  to  sit  in  a  judicial  capacity, 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  moderator,  solemnly  to  announce  from  the 
chair,  that  the  Assembly  is  about  to  pass  to  the  consideration  of  the 
business  assigned  for  trial,  and  to  enjoin  on  the  members  to  recollect 
and  regard  the  high  character,  as  judges  of  a  court  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  solemn  duty,  in  which  they  are  about  to  act. 

"39.  No  member  shall  retire  from  the  Assembly,  without  the  leave 
of  the  moderator;  or  withdraw  from  it,  to  return  home,  without  the 
consent  of  the  Assembly. 

"  40.  The  moderator,  in  finally  closing  the  sessions  of  the  Assembly, 
in  addition  to  prayer,  may  cause  an  appropriate  psalm  or  hymn  to  be 
sung;  and  shall  pronounce  the  Apostolical  Benediction.'' 

Conclusion  of  the  Moderator's  address  to  his  successor  in  office. 

"  Having  now  read  these  rules,  according  to  order,  for  your  instruc 
tion,  as  moderator,  and  for  the  direction  of  all  the  members,  in  the 

*  See  Form  of  Government.  Book  II,  Chap.  8. 


172  V. — COURTS    OP   THE   CHURCH. 

management  of  business,  praying  that  Almighty  God  may  direct,  and 
bless  all  the  deliberations  of  this  General  Assembly,  for  the  glory  of  his 
name,  and  for  the  edification  and  comfort  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States,  I  resign  my  place  and  office  as  moderator." — Minutes, 
1822,  p.  42-45. 

Modifications  of  Rules. 

[The  13th,  17th,  and  18th  of  the  "  Rules  for  Judicatories"  corres 
pond  with  the  14th,  18th,  and  19th  of  the  Rules  for  the  Assembly 
given  above.  The  "  Rules  for  Judicafories  as  they  now  stand  will  be 
found  in  full  in  the  last  chapter  of  this  Digest.] 

The  Assembly  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  Report  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  the  17th  and  18th  Rules  for  Judicatories.  The  Report  was 
amended  and  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz.  :  That  the  17th  Rule  re 
main  as  it  now  stands,  and  that  the  18th  be  so  altered  as  to  read  thus : 
"  If  the  previous  question  be  decided  in  the  affirmative  the  main  ques 
tion  shall  be  immediately  put  without  debate;  if  in  the  negative,  the 
debate  may  proceed." — Minutes,  1835,  p.  473. 

The  Committee  (Hon.  William  Strong,  Mr.  Abraham  B.  Conger,  and 
Mr.  William  H.  Brown),  to  whom  was  referred  the  interpretation  of  the 
17th  rule,  presented  a  report,  and,  on  their  recommendation,  the  13th 
and  17th  rules  were  amended,  so  as  to  read  as  follows: 

u  The  previous  question  shall  be  put  in  this  form  :  /Shall  the  main 
question  be  now  put?  It  shall  only  be  admitted  when  demanded  by  a 
majority  of  the  members  present;  and  its  effect  shall  be  to  put  an  end 
to  all  debate,  and  bring  the  body  to  a  direct  vote, — first,  upon  a  motion 
to  commit  the  motion  under  consideration  (if  such  motion  shall  have 
been  made) ;  secondly  (if  the  motion  to  commit  does  not  prevail),  upon 
pending  amendments ;  and,  lastly,  upon  the  main  question.  To  call 
for  the  previous  question  shall  not  be  debatable. 

"The  13th  rule  shall  be  amended  by  striking  out  the  words,  c or  the 
previous  question.'  " — Minutes,  1851,  p.  27. 

13.   The  Moderator  has  no  other  than  the  casting  vote. 

"  On  the  question  being  taken,  the  moderator  [Dr.  John  Blair  Smith] 
claimed  a  right  to  a  vote  as  a  commissioner  from  the  Presbytery  of  Albany, 
distinct  from  the  casting  vote.  He  left  it  to  the  house  to  decide  on  the 
claim.  The  house,  having  taken  a  vote  on  the  subject,  decided  by  a 
great  majority  against  the  moderator's  claim." — Minutes,  1798,  p.  140. 

[See  ante  36,  p.  171.] 


THE    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY.  173 

14.    Communications  to  the  Assembly  through  the  Moderator. 

"  On  motion, 

"Resolved,  That  every  letter  or  communication  addressed  to  the 
moderator,  be  opened  and  read  by  him,  and  at  his  discretion  be  either 
communicated  immediately  to  the  Assembly  for  their  decision,  or  to  the 
Committee  of  Overtures,  to  be  by  them  brought  before  the  house  in 
the  ordinary  channel." — Minutes,  1794,  p.  79. 

15.    The  u  last  Moderator  present"  not  necessarily  a  Member  of  the 

Assembly. 

"PiTTSBURG,  May  21st,  1835. 

"The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  met  in  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  this  city,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lindsley,  the  mode 
rator  of  the  last  Assembly,  being  absent,  was  opened  with  a  sermon  by 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Miller,  D.D.,  at  the  request  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  William 
A.  McDowell,  the  last  moderator  present,  with  a  sermon  on  2  Corinthians 
4:7:  '  But  we  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  excellency 
of  the  power  may  be  of  God  and  not  of  us/ 

"  After  sermon  the  stated  clerk  called  the  house  to  order,  and  informed 
them,  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lindsley,  the  moderator  of  the  last  Assembly, 
being  absent,  the  duties  of  the  chair  devolved  upon  the  last  moderator, 
who  is  present,  and  has  a  commission  to  sit  in  this  Assembly,  and  there 
fore  he  moved  that  the  Rev.  Nathan  S.  S.  Beman,  D.D.,  be  called  to 
the  chair.  This  motion  prevailed,  and  Dr.  Beman  took  the  chair,  and 
constituted  the  Assembly  with  prayer. 

"Thursday  afternoon,  3  o'clock. 

"  The  Assembly  met. 

"  A  motion  was  made  to  reconsider  the  vote  by  which  Dr.  Beman  was 
called  to  the  chair,  on  the  ground  that  many  persons  voted  in  the  appre 
hension  that  Dr.  Wm.  A.  McDowell,  the  moderator  immediately  pre 
ceding  Dr.  Lindsley,  was  not  in  the  house ;  and  that  many  others  believed 
the  rule  of  the  house  required  the  constituting  moderator  to  be  in  com 
mission,  which  Dr.  McDowell  was  not.  This  motion,  after  considerable 
discussion,  was  adopted  unanimously. 

"  After  some  further  remarks,  it  was  agreed  that  the  original  motion 
of  the  stated  clerk  should  be  again  submitted  to  the  house,  and  the  vote 
be  taken  by  him.  Whereupon  Dr.  Ely  put  the  question  :  <  All  who  are 
in  favor  of  sustaining  the  resolution  passed  in  the  morning,  by  which 


174  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

Dr.  Beman  was  called  to  the  chair,  will  signify  it  by  saying  aye.'     This 
motion  was  lost. 

"  It  was  then  moved  that  the  Rev.  Wm.  A.  McDowell,  D.D.,  being  the 
last  moderator  present,  be  requested  to  take  the  chair.  This  motion  pre 
vailed,  and  Dr.  McDowell  took  the  chair  accordingly." — Minutes,  1835, 
pp.  461,  4G6. 

16.   THE   STATED   CLERK. 

Appointment. 

a.  il  Ordered,  that  Dr.   Duffield  be  appointed  stated  clerk  of  the 
Assembly,  procure  a  proper  book  into  which  to  transcribe  their  minutes, 
and  lay  the  expense  of  the  book  and  of  transcribing  the  minutes,  before 
the  General  Assembly  at  their  next  meeting/' — Minutes,  1789,  p.  18. 

Duties  of  the  Stated  Clerk. 

b.  "  The  stated  clerk  shall  transcribe  for  the  press  such  parts  as  may 
be  necessary  of  the  minutes  ordered  to  be  published  from  year  to  year. 
He  shall  correct  the  press,  and  superintend  the  printing  of  all  the  mi 
nutes  and  papers  which  shall  be  ordered  to  be  printed  by  the  General 
Assembly.     As  soon  as  the  extracts  are  printed  from  year  to  year,  he 
shall  send  one  copy  by  mail  to  each  Presbytery,  and  apportion  and  send 
the  rest  by  private  conveyance  to  the  Presbyteries  and  other  bodies,  as 
shall  be  prescribed  by  the  Assembly,  only  reserving  a  sufficient  number 
of  copies  for  binding.     He  shall  have  the  charge  of  all  the  books  and 
papers  of  the  General  Assembly,  shall  cause  their  minutes  to  be  fairly 
transcribed  into  the  book  or  books  provided  for  the  purpose,  and  give  at 
tested  copies  of  all  minutes  and  other  documents,  when  properly  required 
so  to  do."— Minutes,  1807,  p.  377. 

To  Notify  Presbyteries  whose  Commissioners  have  left  without  Leave. 

c.  "  Whereas,  it  has  frequently  happened  that  members  of  this  As 
sembly,  neglecting  their  duty  and  inattentive  to  the  rules  of  decorum, 
have  abruptly  left  the  Assembly,  and  returned  home  without  leave  of 
absence, 

"Resolved,  That  in  all  similar  cases  which  shall  occur  in  future,  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  clerk  of  this  House  to  give  notice  thereof  to 


THE    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY. 

the  Presbyteries  to  which  such  delinquent  members  may  belong ;  and 
that  it  be  recommended  to  the  said  Presbyteries,  in  their  settlements 
with  such  delinquents,  not  to  allow  them  any  compensation  for  services 
as  members  of  the  Assembly." — Minutes,  1801,  p.  233. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  the  duty  of  the  stated  clerk  hereafter,  to  report 
to  the  several  Presbyteries  the  names  of  the  commissioners  who,  at  the 
calling  of  the  roll  at  the  close  of  the  Assembly,  may  appear  to  have  left 
the  Assembly  without  permission." — Minutes,  1820,  p.  723. 

"  Resolved,  That  as  the  names  of  persons  who  have  left  the  Assembly 
without  leave  are  to  be  published  in  the  printed  journals,  therefore  the 
stated  clerk  is  liberated  from  the  duty  enjoined  by  a  standing  rule,  of 
writing  to  the  Presbyteries  on  the  subject." — Minutes,  1824,  p.  125. 

Salary  of  the  Stated  Clerlt. 

d.  "  Resolved,  That  the  salary  of  the  stated  clerk  be  hereafter  one 
hundred  dollars  per  annum,  exclusive  of  the  expense  of  having  the 
minutes  transcribed." — Minutes,  1837,  p.  467. 

17.    PERMANENT  CLERK. 

Appointment  and  Duties. 

"  Resolved,  That  a  permanent  recording  clerk  be  chosen,  whose  duty 
it  shall  be,  from  year  to  year,  to  draught  the  minutes  of  the  Assembly 
during  their  sessions,  and  afterwards  to  perform  such  services  respecting 
the  transcribing,  printing,  and  distributing  the  extracts  as  shall  be  as 
signed  to  him,  from  time  to  time;  and  that  he  be  paid  out  of  the  funds 
of  the  Assembly  three  dollars  per  day,  for  the  time  he  shall  be  em 
ployed,  as  well  during  the  sessions  of  the  Assembly  as  after  their  disso 
lution."—  Minutes,  1802,  p.  235. 

"  Resolved,  That  hereafter  the  permanent  clerk  shall  receive  for  his 
services  two  dollars  per  day,  during  the  sessions  of  the  Assembly,  and 
one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  per  day,  while  necessarily  attending  upon  the 
business  of  the  Assembly  after  their  adjournment."— Minutes,  1806, 
p.  372. 

11  The  permanent  clerk  shall  furnish  all  the  stationery  for  the  use  of 
the  Assembly  and  the  several  clerks.  He  shall  make  the  original 
draught  of  all  the  minutes,  and  give  certified  copies,  as  occasion  may 
require,  of  all  such  as  may  be  proper  to  be  transmitted  to  the  trustees  of 


176  v. — COURTS  or  THE  CHURCH. 

the  General  Assembly,  or  any  of  their  officers.  After  the  Assembly 
rises,  from  year  to  year,  he  shall  carefully  revise  the  manuscript,  render 
it  correct  and  legible,  and  deliver  it  over  to  the  stated  clerk.  He  shall 
receive  a  reasonable  compensation  for  the  stationery  supplied  by  him, 
and  the  pay  (per  diem)  fixed  by  the  last  Assembly';  (i.  e.,  two  dollars 
per  day  during  the  sessions  of  the  Assembly,  and  one  dollar  and  fifty 
cents  per  day,  while  necessarily  attending  on  the  business  of  the  Assem 
bly  after  their  adjournment). — Minutes,  1807,  p.  377. 

[Restored  to  three  dollars  per  diem. — Minutes,  1826,  p.  188.] 


18.   TEMPORARY  CLERKS. 

a.  "Resolved,  That  a  temporary  clerk  be  chosen  by  each  Assembly 
as  heretofore,  to  read  the  minutes  and  communications  to  the  Assembly, 
and  otherwise  aid  the  permanent  clerk  as  occasion  may  require,  and  that 
he  be  paid  one  dollar  per  day  for  his  services/' — Minutes,  1802,  p.  235. 

It.  "  The  temporary  clerk  shall  hereafter  receive  no  pecuniary  com 
pensation  for  his  services." — Minutes,  1806,  p.  372. 

Choice  of  Clerks  not  confined  to  Members  of  Assembly. 

c.   "On  motion, 

"Resolved,  That  it  be  considered  as  the  right  of  every  member  of 
the  Assembly  to  vote  for  a  clerk  who  is  not  a  member  of  the  body." — 
Minutes,  1793,  p.  64. 

19.  TJte  Standing  Committees. 

"Resolved,  That  the  committees  appointed  at  the  opening  of  each 
Assembly  be  called  Standing  Committees,  and  those  outside  of  the 
Assembly,  Permanent  Committees." — Minutes,  1856,  p.  192. 

1.    Committee  of  Bills  and  Overtures. 

a.  "  The  General  Assembly  at  every  meeting  shall  appoint  a  Com 
mittee  of  Bills  and  Overtures,  to  prepare  and  digest  business  for  the 
Assembly.  Any  person  thinking  himself  aggrieved  by  this  committee 
may  complain  to  the  Assembly." — Minutes,  1789,  p.  8. 

I.  "  Petitions,  questions  relating  either  to  doctrine  or  order,  intended 
to  be  brought  before  the  Assembly  for  decision,  and  in  general,  all  new 


THE    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  177 

propositions  tending  to  general  laws,  shall  usually  be  laid  before  the  Com 
mittee  of  Bills  and  Overtures  before  they  be  offered  to  the  Assembly." 
—Minutes,  1819,  p.  718.  [See  Rules  4  and  5,  p.  168.] 

II.  Judicial  Committee. 

"  The  Assembly  shall  also  at  every  meeting  appoint  a  committee,  to  be 
styled  the  Judicial  Committee,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  take  into  con 
sideration  all  appeals  and  references  brought  to  the  Assembly;  to  ascer 
tain  whether  they  are  in  order ;  to  digest  and  arrange  all  the  documents 
relating  to  the  same;  and  to  propose  to  the  Assembly  the  best  method 
of  proceeding  in  each  case." — Minutes,  1819,  p.  718.  [See  Rule  6,  p.  168.] 

///.    Committee  on  Polity  of  the  Church. 

(<  Resolved,,  That  a  Committee  of  seven  members  be  appointed  on  the 
Polity  of  the  Church ;  and  that  it  be  referred  to  this  committee  to  exa 
mine  and  settle  the  true  roll  of  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods  connected 
with  the  Assembly ;  and  that  they  receive  the  reports  of  the  several 
Presbyteries  on  amending  the  Constitution  of  the  Church." — Minutes, 
1840,  p.  7. 

IV.    Committee  on  Church  Extension. 

"  There  shall  hereafter  be  appointed,  with  the  other  standing  committees 
of  the  General  Assembly,  one  on  Church  Extension,  to  whom  shall  be 
committed,  at  an  early  period  of  their  sessions,  the  Synodical  and  Pres- 
byterial  reports  on  the  subject,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  present  a  con 
densed  view  of  them  to  the  Assembly,  with  such  further  propositions  to 
promote  this  work  as  they  may  deem  desirable.  This  standing  com 
mittee  shall  be  required  to  report  as  soon  as  a  faithful  discharge  of  its 
duties  will  permit." — Minutes,  1852,  p.  172. 

V.    Committee  on  Education. 

VI.    Committee  on  Publication. 

"  Resolved,  That  hereafter  there  be  appointed,  at  the  opening  of  each 
Assembly,  Standing  Committees  on  Education  and  Publication,  to  whom 
may  be  referred  appropriate  reports  and  communications." — Minutes, 
1856,  p.  192. 

12 


178  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

VII.    Committee  on  Devotional  Exercises. 

"Resolved,  That  it  be  hereafter  a  standing  rule  of  the  General  Assem 
bly  to  spend  the  first  Wednesday  of  their  sessions  in  religious  exercises, 
as  follows,  viz. : 

"  It  is  recommended  that  each  member  should  spend  from  eight  till 
nine  o'clock,  A.  M.  of  that  day  in  secret  devotion.  At  ten,  the  Assem 
bly  shall  meet  together,  and  spend  a  season  in  prayer,  praise,  reading 
the  Scriptures,  and  exhortation.  In  the  afternoon,  there  shall  be  a 
public  meeting  of  the  Assembly,  with  all  who  may  choose  to  convene 
with  them,  to  engage  again  in  religious  exercises. 

"  Each  Assembly  shall,  at  an  early  period  of  its  sessions,  appoint  a 
committee  to  make  arrangements  for  the  observance  of  this  day,  in  con 
formity  with  the  above  general  plan." — Minutes,  1828,  p.  239. 

VIII.    Committee  on  the  Narrative. 

The  following  proposition  was  introduced  through  the  Committee  of 
Bills  and  Overtures,  viz. : 

"  That  the  General  Assembly  take  measures  to  bring  into  distinct 
view,  at  its  different  sessions,  the  situation  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
under  its  jurisdiction  in  the  United  States  of  America,  with  respect  to 
the  state  of  religion  in  the  different  Presbyteries,  the  state  of  religious 
denominations  amongst  them,  and  the  most  probable  expedients  for 
reviving  and  promoting  the  essential  interests  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the 
world;  whereupon — 

u  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  each  Synod  to  enjoin  it  upon 
the  respective  Presbyteries  within  their  bounds,  to  specify  the  above 
particulars  in  the  annual  reports  which  they  make  of  the  state  of  their 
respective  churches,  to  be  laid  before  the  General  Assembly  at  its  stated 
meetings." — Minutes,  1792,  p.  59. 

Narrative  to  notice  the  Decease  of  Ministers. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  narrative  on  the  state  of  religion  annually  contain 
a  notice  of  the  decease  of  all  the  ministers  of  our  Church,  who  may  have 
been  removed  by  death  during  the  preceding  year;  and  the  several 
Presbyteries  are  ordered  to  incorporate  with  their  reports  on  the  state  of 
religion,  made  to  the  Assembly,  the  case  of  every  such  removal  within 
their  bounds." — Minutes,  1822,  p.  38. 


THE   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  179 

IX.    Committee  on  Leave  of  Absence. 

"Resolved,  That,  as  a  standing  rule  of  the  Assembly,  a  committee  of 
five  be  appointed,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  consider  all  applications  for 
leave  of  absence,  with  power  to  decide  on  the  same,  in  place  of  the 
house,  and  with  instructions  to  require  in  every  case  satisfactory  reasons 
for  the  necessity  of  such  absence,  and  report  to  the  house,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  every  session,  the  members  so  dismissed ;  and  that  an 
appeal  to  the  Assembly  may  be  made  in  any  instance  of  refusal  on  the 
part  of  the  committee  to  grant  the  application." — Minutes,  1833,  p.  390. 

X.    Committee  on  Mileage. 

" Resolved ,  That  the  members  entitled  to  mileage  shall  give  to  the 
Committee  on  the  Commissioners'  Fund,  within  three  days  after  the  ap 
pointment  of  said  committee,  in  writing,  their  names,  the  names  of  their 
Presbyteries,  and  their  distance  from  home  to  the  Assembly;  and  if  any 
member  neglects  to  comply  with  this  resolution,  he  shall  forfeit  his  por 
tion  of  said  fund.  And  that  no  member  may  be  ignorant  of  this  reso 
lution,  the  moderator  shall  read  it  as  soon  as  the  committee  on  said  fund 
is  appointed  each  year." — Minutes,  1818,  p.  687. 

"The  Committee  on  Mileage  reported  in  part,  when  it  was 

"Resolved,  That  the  commissioners  from  Newburyport,  Clinton,  and 
Madison  be  struck  off  from  the  list  of  applicants  for  a  portion  of  the 
commissioners'  fund,  on  the  ground  that  their  respective  Presbyteries 
have  paid  nothing  into  this  fund. 

l'  Resolved  further,  That  the  commissioners  from  the  following  Pres 
byteries,  viz.,  Cortland,  Genesee,  Onondaga,  Oswego,  Rochester,  and 
Ontario  be  allowed  to  draw  from  the  commissioners'  fund  only  the 
amount  that  their  Presbyteries  have  respectively  paid  in." — Minutes, 
1833,  p.  404. 

"  It  is  hereby  ordered,  that  no  commissioner  who  shall  obtain  leave  of 
absence  within  the  first  six  days  of  the  sessions  shall  be  entitled  to  re 
ceive  anything  from  the  commissioners'  fund,  unless  the  General  As 
sembly  shall  order  otherwise,  when  the  reasons  of  the  application  are 
given."— Minutes,  1827,  p.  207. 

XL    Committee  on  Foreiyn  Missions. 
u  Resolved)  That  a  standing  Committee  on  Foreign  Missions  be  an- 


180  v. — COURTS  or  THE  CHURCH. 

nually  appointed,  who  shall  have  charge  of  this  general  subject  in  the 
sessions  of  the  Assembly." — Minutes,  1858,  p.  596. 

20.    Commissioners1  Fund. 

a.  "1.  Resolved,  That  it  be,  and  hereby  is  earnestly  recommended  to 
the  several  Presbyteries,  and  all  the  ministers  under  the  care  of  the 
General  Assembly,  to  urge  upon  the  people  under  their  care  the  equity, 
the  importance,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of  contributing  to  the  com 
missioners'  fund,  in  order  to  secure  the  attendance  of  commissioners  at 
the  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly,  from  those  sections  of  the  Church 
which  are  at  the  greatest  distance  from  the  place  of  the  Assembly's 
meetings,  and  which  in  the  Divine  Providence  are  least  able  to  sustain 
the  burden  of  expense,  both  of  time  and  money,  in  giving  such  attend 
ance. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  General  Assembly,  those 
Presbyteries  that  are  wealthy,  and  that  have  judged  it  proper  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  their  own  commissioners,  are  bound  in  a  peculiar  manner  to 
contribute  liberally  to  the  general  fund,  in  order  that  they  may  bear 
their  due  proportion  of  the^  expenses  of  commissioners  who  attend  from 
distant  Presbyteries;  which  Presbyteries  and  their  commissioners,  in 
the  Providence  of  God,  are  not  able  to  pay  their  own  expenses;  and 
this  General  Assembly  would  fain  hope  that  the  wealthy  Presbyteries 
will  esteem  it  both  their  privilege  and  their  duty  to  make  such  contri 
butions.7' — Minutes,  1833,  p.  410. 

l>.  "  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  subject  of  mileage,  pre 
sented  a  report,  which  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  commissioners'  fund  is  distributed  at  the  present  time  in  the 
following  manner :  The  money  contributed  for  the  general  fund  is  paid 
into  the  hands  of  the  Committee  en  Mileage,  and  distributed  to  such 
commissioners  as  claim  it  (whose  Presbyteries  have  contributed  anything 
to  the  fund,  and  who  have  not  otherwise  been  paid),  according  to  the 
number  of  miles  each  has  travelled  to  the  place  of  meeting. 

"  This  mode  of  distribution  appears  to  be  as  simple  and  equitable  as 
any  that  can  be  adopted  ;  and  the  committee  recommend  that  it  remain 
unchanged. 

"  Our  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xxii,  sec.  3,  makes  it  proper  for 
each  Presbytery  to  pay  its  own  commissioners;  consequently,  if  any 
Presbytery  shall  choose  to  do  so,  the  Assembly  cannot  require  them  to 


THE    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  181 

contribute  to  the  general  fund;  but  it  is  most  earnestly  recommended  to 
the  older  and  abler  Presbyteries,  in  view  of  the  wide  extent  of  our 
Church,  and  the  great  importance  of  our  rising  Presbyteries  being 
represented  in  the  meetings  of  the  Assembly,  if  they  shall  still  choose 
to  exercise  their  right  to  pay  their  own  commissioners  in  full,  that  they 
be  particular  in  making  additional  collections  for  the  general  fund,  so 
that  the  younger  and  feebler  Presbyteries  may  be  fully  represented. 
And  it  is  hereby  made  the  duty  of  the  stated  clerk  to  give  due  notice 
of  this  recommendation  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assem 
bly/'—  Minutes,  1851,  p.  24. 

c.  "The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church  made  the  following 
report,  which  was  adopted  : 

u  Whereas,  a  full  representation,  both  of  ministers  and  of  elders,  from 
all  the  Presbyteries,  is  essential  to  the  efficiency  and  welfare  of  the 
Church ;  and  whereas  this  can  be  secured  only  by  the  co-operation  of 
all  the  Presbyteries  in  raising  an  adequate  fund  to  defray  the  necessary 
expenses  of  all  the  commissioners  to  the  Assembly.  Therefore, 

u  Resolved j  1.  That  there  be  a  Permanent  Committee  on  Mileage,  of 
which  the  stated  clerk  shall  be  ex  officio  a  member,  who  shall  estimate 
the  probable  amount  that  will  be  required  to  defray  the  travelling  ex 
penses  of  commissioners  and  the  contingent  expenses  of  the  Assembly, 
shall  apportion  the  same  to  the  several  Presbyteries,  and  recommend  to 
them  prompt  measures  to  secure  the  amount, — the  apportionment  for 
each  successive  Assembly  to  be  reported  to  the  preceding  Assembly. 
And  if  any  Presbytery  supposes  its  apportionment  unjust,  it  may  make 
representation  to  the  Permanent  Committee  on  Mileage,  who  shall  re 
consider  their  case,  and  make  such  changes  as  they  shall  deem  proper. 

"Resolved,  2.  That  on  the  fourth  day  after  the  opening  of  the  As 
sembly,  the  Presbyteries  be  called  upon  to  report,  whether  the  amount 
assigned  them  has  been  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  Assembly. 

"Resolved,  3.  That  the  commissioners  to  the  Assembly,  whose  Pres 
byteries  have  paid  the  amounts  assigned  them,  are  expected,  within  four 
days  after  the  opening  of  the  Assembly,  to  present  a  bill  of  their  neces 
sary  travelling  expenses  to  the  Permanent  Committee  on  Mileage,  to  be 
audited  by  them,  and  paid  in  equal  proportions  according  to  the  funds 
furnished  by  those  Presbyteries. 

"Resolved,  4.  That  since  the  question  has  arisen,  whether  this  plan 
is  constitutional,  it  be  referred  to  the  Presbyteries  for  their  approval ; 
and,  if  approved,  it  shall  become  part  of  the  Constitution,  and  all  prior 


182  V. — COURTS  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

regulations  of  the  Assembly  on  the  subject  of  mileage,  inconsistent  with 
these  regulations,  shall  be  rescinded." — Minutes,  1856,  pp.  216,  217. 

cL  "  The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church  reported  that  fifty 
Presbyteries  had  taken  action  upon  the  overture  on  the  subject  of  'mile 
age,  thirty-one  answering  in  the  affirmative,  and  nineteen  in  the  nega 
tive;  and,  as  a  majority  of  all  the  Presbyteries  had  taken  no  action  upon 
the  subject,  that  the  overture  was  not  adopted.  The  whole  subject  was 
again  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church." — 
Minutes,  1857,  p.  380. 

lt  The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church,  to  whom  was  referred 
the  consideration  of  a  permanent  system  of  mileage,  present  the  follow 
ing  report: 

"  The  Constitution  affirms  that,  i  in  order,  as  far  as  possible,  to  procure 
a  respectable  and  full  delegation  to  all  our  judicatories,  it  is  proper  that 
the  expenses  of  ministers  and  elders,  in  their  attendance  on  these  judi 
catories,  be  defrayed  by  the  bodies  which  they  respectively  represent.' 

"  The  following  recommendations  are  therefore  submitted  : 

"  That  each  Presbytery  be  earnestly  requested  to  contribute  annually 
their  full  proportion  towards  the  expenses  of  our  General  Assemblies. 

a  That  this  proportion  be  determined  by  the  number  of  communicants 
connected  with  the  Presbytery. 

"  That  the  rate,  per  capita,  for  the  next  Assembly  be  five  (5)  cents 
for  each  communicant. 

"  That  each  Presbytery  be  at  liberty  to  apportion  their  quota  among 
their  churches  as  they  shall  deem  best. 

"  That  the  Standing  Committee  on  Mileage,  annually  appointed,  esti 
mate  and  report  the  probable  amount  that  will  be  needed  to  defray  the 
necessary  travelling  expenses  of  the  commissioners,  and  the  contingent 
expenses  of  the  next  succeeding  Assembly,  together  with  the  rate  that 
will  be  adequate. 

"  That,  on  or  before  the  fourth  day  of  the  sessions  of  each  Assembly, 
the  amount  thus  contributed  be  paid  to  the  Committee  on  Mileage,  and 
a  bill  be  presented  by  each  commissioner  of  his  necessary  travelling 
expenses  and  mileage. 

11  That  these  bills,  having  been  duly  audited  by  the  Mileage  Com 
mittee,  be  paid  as  fully  as  the  funds  will  permit,  after  appropriating  an 
amount  sufficient  to  defray  the  contingent  expenses  of  the  Assembly. 

"  That  each  minister  and  vacant  church  connected  with  those  Pres 
byteries  who  have  contributed  their  full  quota  to  this  fund  be  entitled 
to  a  copy  of  the  annual  Minutes. 


THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  183 

"  That,  in  order  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privileges  of  this  plan,  the 
Presbyteries  must  contribute  and  forward  to  the  Assembly,  their  full 
proportion  of  this  fund  as  thus  determined.  The  report  was  adopted." 
—Minutes,  1857,  pp.  399,  400. 

21.  Contingent  Fund. 

11  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  congregations  under 
the  care  of  this  Assembly  to  make  annually  a  collection  for  a  contingent 
fund  to  defray  the  incidental  expenses  of  the  Assembly,  such  as  record 
ing  and  printing  the  Minutes,  clerks'  salaries,  janitor's  bill,  stationery, 
and  expenses  of  delegates  to  corresponding  bodies. 

"  Resolved,  That  this  collection  be  reported  annually  by  the  con 
gregations  to  their  respective  Presbyteries ;  and  by  the  Presbyteries  be 
paid  over  to  the  treasurer  of  the  Trustees  of  the  General  Assembly,  and 
be  reported  in  the  annual  report  to  the  Assembly." — Minutes,  1830,  p. 
305.  [See  above,  p.  182.] 

22.    The  Publication  and  Distribution  of  the  Minutes. 

"  The  committee  would  submit  to  the  Assembly  the  following  plan  for 
the  publication  of  the  Minutes  in  future,  viz. :  That  each  Presbytery 
shall  forward  to  the  treasurer,  for  the  contingent  fund  of  the  Assembly, 
at  or  before  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  in  each  year,  a  sum  equal  to 
31|  cents  for  each  member  of  the  Presbytery,  and  for  any  licentiate  or 
other  person  who  shall  desire  the  Minutes,  and  whose  post-office  address 
shall  be  given.  And  the  stated  clerk  shall  not  forward  the  Minutes  to 
the  members  of  any  Presbytery  from  which  no  such  remittance  shall  be 
made;  but  only  to  the  stated  clerk  of  such  Presbytery,  and  to  such 
members  as  shall  forward  the  sum  above  stated.  Adopted." — Minutes, 
1836,  p.  277. 

"  The  price,  either  with  or  without  postage,  of  a  copy  of  the  Annual 
Minutes,  with  the  usual  appendix,  is  forty  cents.  Every  Presbytery 
that  contributes  to  the  contingent  fund  an  amount  equal  to  forty  cents 
for  each  minister,  will  have  one  copy  of  the  Minutes  forwarded  by  mail, 
as  soon  as  published,  to  each  of  its  ministers  whose  post-office  address  is 
given  in  the  Statistical  Report.  The  Minutes  will  also  be  sent,  free  of 
postage,  when  ordered,  to  any  address  at  the  same  rate.  The  postage 
on  all  orders  must  be  prepaid. 

"Agreeably  to  a  resolution  of  the  Assembly,  a  copy  of  the  Minutes  will 


184  V. — COURTS    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

be  sent,  post-paid,  to  each  of  the  stated  clerks  of  the  Presbyteries  and 
Synods,  for  the  use  of  those  bodies  respectively." — Minutes,  1854,  p.  540 
(Appendix). 

23.    The  Charier  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Assembly. 

An  Act  for  incorporating  the  Trustees  of  the  Ministers  and  Elders  con 
stituting  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  Sta  tcs  of  Ame r ica . 

"  Whereas,  The  ministers  and  elders  forming  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States  of  America,  consisting 
of  citizens  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  others  of  the  United 
States  aforesaid,  have  by  their  petition  represented,  that  by  donations, 
bequests,  or  otherwise,  of  charitably  disposed  persons,  they  are  possessed 
of  moneys  for  benevolent  and  pious  purposes ;  and  the  said  ministers  and 
elders  have  reason  to  expect  farther  contributions  for  similar  uses;  but 
from  the  scattered  situation  of  the  said  ministers  and  elders,  and  other 
causes,  the  said  ministers  and  elders  find  it  extremely  difficult  to  manage 
the  said  funds  in  the  way  best  calculated  to  answer  the  intention  of  the 
donors  j  therefore — 

"  SEC.  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  General  Assembly  met,  and  it 
is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That  John  Rodgers, 
Alexander  McWhorter,  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  Ashbel  Green,  William 
M.  Tennent,  Patrick  Allison,  Nathan  Irvin,  Joseph  Clark,  Andrew  Hun 
ter,  Jared  Ingersoll,  Robert  Ralston,  Jonathan  B.  Smith,  Andrew  Bay 
ard,  Elias  Boudinot,  John  Nelson,  Ebenezer  Hazard,  David  Jackson, 
and  Robert  Smith,  merchant,  and  their  successors  duly  elected,  and 
appointed  in  manner  as  is  hereinafter  directed,  be,  and  they  are  hereby 
made,  declared,  and  constituted  a  corporation  and  body  politic  and  cor 
porate,  in  law  and  in  fact,  to  have  continuance  forever,  by  the  name, 
style,  and  title  of  '  Trustees  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America;'  and  by  the  name,  style,  and 
title  aforesaid,  shall,  forever  hereafter,  be  persons  able  and  capable  in 
law  as  well  to  take,  receive,  and  hold,  all  and  all  manner  of  lands,  tene 
ments,  rents,  annuities,  franchises,  and  other  hereditaments,  which  at 
any  time  or  times  heretofore  have  been  granted,  bargained,  sold,  en- 
feoffed,  released,  devised,  or  otherwise  conveyed,  to  the  said  ministers 
and  elders  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 


THE   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  185 

United  States,  or  any  other  person  or  persons,  to  their  use,  or  in  trust 
for  them  j  and  the  same  lands,  tenements,  rents,  annuities,  liberties, 
franchises,  and  other  hereditaments,  are  hereby  vested  and  established 
in  the  said  corporation,  and  their  successors  forever,  according  to  the 
original  use  and  intent  for  which  such  devises,  gifts,  and  grants,  were 
respectively  made ;  and  the  said  corporation  and  their  successors  are 
hereby,  declared  to  be  seized  and  possessed  of  such  estate  and  estates 
therein  as  by  and  in  the  respective  grants,  bargains,  sales,  enfeoffments, 
releases,  devises,  and  other  conveyances  thereof,  is  or  are  declared  limited 
and  expressed ;  also,  that  the  said  corporation  and  their  successors,  at 
all  times  hereafter,  shall  be  capable  and  able  to  purchase,  have,  receive, 
take,  hold,  and  enjoy,  in  fee  simple,  or  of  lesser  estate  or  estates,  any 
lands,  tenements,  rents,  annuities,  franchises,  and  other  hereditaments, 
by  the  gift,  grant,  bargain,  sale,  alienation,  enfeoffment,  release,  con 
firmation,  or  devise,  of  any  person  or  persons,  bodies  politic  and  corporate, 
capable  and  able  to  make  the  same  :  And  farther,  that  the  said  ministers 
and  elders,  under  the  corporate  name  aforesaid,  and  their  successors,  may 
take  and  receive  any  sum  or  sums  of  money,  and  any  portion  of  goods 
and  chattels,  that  have  been  given  to  the  said  ministers  and  elders,  or 
that  hereafter  shall  be  given,  sold,  leased,  or  bequeathed  to  the  said  cor 
poration  by  any  person  or  persons,  bodies  politic  or  corporate,  that  is  able 
or  capable  to  make  a  gift,  sale,  bequest,  or  other  disposal  of  the  same ; 
such  money,  goods,  or  chattels,  to  be  laid  out  and  disposed  of  for  the  use 
and  benefit  of  the  aforesaid  corporation,  agreeably  to  the  intention  of  the 
donors,  and  according  to  the  objects,  articles,  and  conditions  of  this  act. 

"  SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That 
no  misnomer  of  the  said  corporation  and  their  successors  shall  defeat  or 
annul  any  gift,  grant,  devise,  or  bequest,  to  or  from  the  said  corporation, 
provided  the  intent  of  the  party  or  parties  shall  sufficiently  appear  upon 
the  face  of  the  gift,  will,  grant,  or  other  writing,  whereby  any  estate  or 
interest  was  intended  to  pass  to  or  from  the  said  corporation. 

"  SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That 
the  said  corporation  and  their  successors  shall  have  full  power  and 
authority  to  make,  have,  and  use  one  common  seal,  with  such  device 
and  inscription  as  they  shall  think  fit  and  proper;  and  the  same  to  break, 
alter,  and  renew,  at  their  pleasure. 

"SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That 
the  said  corporation  and  their  successors,  by  the  name,  style,  and  title 
aforesaid,  shall  be  able  and  capable  in  law  to  sue  and  be  sued,  plead  and 


186  V. — COURTS   OP   THE   CHURCH. 

be  impleaded,  in  any  court,  or  before  any  judge  or  justice,  in  all  and  all 
manner  of  suits,  complaints,  pleas,  matters,  and  demands,  of  whatsoever 
nature,  kind,  and  form  they  may  be ;  and  all  and  every  matter  and  thing 
to  do,  in  as  full  and  effectual  a  manner  as  any  other  person,  bodies  politic 
or  corporate,  within  this  Commonwealth,  may  or  can  do. 

"  SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That 
the  said  corporation  and  their  successors  shall  be,  and  hereby  are  author 
ized  and  empowered  to  make,  ordain,  and  establish  by-laws  and  ordi 
nances,  and  do  everything  incident  and  needful  for  the  support  and 
due  government  of  the  said  corporation,  and  managing  the  funds  and 
revenues  thereof:  provided,  the  said  by-laws  be  not  repugnant  to  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  to  the  Constitution  and  laws 
of  this  Commonwealth,  or  to  this  act. 

"  SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That 
the  said  corporation  shall  not  at  any  time  consist  of  more  than  eighteen 
persons;  whereof  the  said  General  Assembly  may,  at  their  discretion,  as 
often  as  they  shall  hold  their  sessions  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania, 
change  one-third  in  such  manner  as  to  the  said  General  Assembly  shall 
seem  proper ;  and  the  corporation  aforesaid  shall  have  power  and  autho 
rity  to  manage  and  dispose  of  all  moneys,  goods,  chattels,  lands,  tene 
ments,  and  hereditaments,  and  other  estate  whatsoever,  committed  to 
their  care  and  trust  by  the  said  General  Assembly;  but  in  cases  where 
special  instructions  for  the  management  and  disposal  thereof  shall  be 
given  by  the  said  General  Assembly  in  writing,  under  the  hand  of  their 
clerk,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  corporation  to  act  according  to 
such  instructions  :  provided,  the  said  instructions  shall  not  be  repugnant 
to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  or  to  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  this  Commonwealth,  or  to  the  provisions  and  restrictions  in 
this  act  contained. 

"SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That 
six  members  of  this  corporation,  whereof  the  president,  or  in  his  absence 
the  vice-president,  to  be  one,  shall  be  a  sufficient  number  to  transact  the 
business  thereof,  and  to  make  by-laws,  rules,  and  regulations :  provided, 
that  previous  to  any  meeting  of  the  board  or  corporation,  for  such  pur 
poses,  not  appointed  by  adjournment,  ten  days'  notice  shall  be  previously 
given  thereof,  in  at  least  one  of  the  newspapers  printed  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  And  the  said  corporation  shall  and  may,  as  often  as  they 
shall  see  proper,  and  according  to  the  rules  by  them  to  be  prescribed, 
choose  out  of  their  number,  a  president  and  vice-president,  and  shall 


THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  187 

have  authority  to  appoint  a  treasurer,  and  such  other  officers  and  servants 
as  shall  by  them,  the  said  corporation,  be  deemed  necessary;  to  which 
officers  the  said  corporation  may  assign  such  a  compensation  for  their 
services,  and  such  duties  to  be  performed  by  them,  to  continue  in  office 
for  such  time,  and  to  be  succeeded  by  others,  in  such  way  and  manner 
as  the  said  corporation  shall  direct. 

"  SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That 
all  questions  before  the  said  corporation,  shall  be  decided  by  a  plurality 
of  votes,  whereof  each  member  present  shall  have  one,  except  the  presi 
dent,  or  vice-president  when  acting  as  president,  who  shall  have  only 
the  casting  voice  and  vote,  in  case  of  an  equality  in  the  votes  of  the 
other  members. 

"SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That 
the  said  corporation  shall  keep  regular  and  fair  entries  of  their  proceed 
ings,  and  a  just  account  of  their  receipts  and  disbursements,  in  a  book 
or  books  to  be  provided  for  that  purpose ;  and  their  treasurer  shall,  once 
in  a  year,  exhibit  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America,  an  exact  state  of  the  accounts  of  the 
corporation. 

"  SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That 
the  said  corporation  may  take,  receive,  purchase,  possess  and  enjoy, 
messuages,  houses,  lands,  tenements,  rents,  annuities,  and  other  heredi 
taments,  real  and  personal  estate  of  any  amount  not  exceeding  ten 
thousand  dollars  a  year  value,  but  the  said  limitations  not  to  be  con 
sidered  as  including  the  annual  collections  and  voluntary  contributions 
made  in  the  churches  under  the  care  of  the  said  General  Assembly. 

"CADWALADER  EVANS,  JR., 
"  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
"ROBERT  HARE, 

"  Speaker  of  the  Senate. 
"  Approved  March  28,  1799. 

"  THOMAS  MIFPLIN, 
" Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania." 

—Minutes,  1799,  pp.  173,  175. 

24.  Mode  of  Electing  the  Trustees. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  expedient  to  adopt  and  recommend  the  follow 
ing  system : 

"  1.  That  when  this  subject  is  called  up  annually,  a  vote  shall  first  be 


188  V. — COURTS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

taken  whether  for  the  current  year  the  Assembly  will  or  will  not  make 
any  election  of  members  in  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

"2.  If  an  election  be  determined  on,  the  day  on  which  it  shall  take 
place  shall  be  specified,  and  shall  not  be  within  less  than  two  days  of  the 
time  at  which  such  election  shall  be  decided  on. 

"3.  When  the  day  of  election  arrives,  the  Assembly  shall  ascertain 
what  vacancies  in  the  number  of  the  eighteen  trustees  incorporated,  have 
taken  place,  by  death  or  otherwise,  and  shall  first  proceed  to  choose 
other  members  in  their  places.  When  this  is  accomplished,  they  shall 
proceed  to  the  trial  whether  they  will  elect  any,  and  if  any,  how  many 
of  that  third  of  the  number  of  the  trustees  which  by  law  they  are  per 
mitted  to  change,  in  the  following  manner,  viz. :  The  list  of  the  trustees 
shall  be  taken,  and  a  vote  be  had  for  a  person  to  fill  the  place  of  him 
who  is  first  on  the  list.  In  voting  for  a  person  to  fill  said  place,  the 
vote  may  be  given  either  for  the  person  who  has  before  filled  it,  or  for 
any  other  person.  If  the  majority  of  votes  shall  be  given  for  the  person 
who  has  before  filled  it,  he  shall  continue  in  office.  If  the  majority  of 
votes  shall  be  given  for  another  person,  this  person  is  a  trustee  duly 
chosen  in  place  of  the  former.  In  the  same  form  the  Assembly  shall 
proceed  with  the  list,  till  they  have  either  changed  one-third  of  the 
trustees  (always  including  in  the  third  those  who  have  been  elected  by 
the  sitting  Assembly,  to  supply  the  places  become  vacant  by  death  or 
otherwise),  or  by  going  through  the  list,  shall  determine  that  no  farther 
alteration  shall  be  made." — Minutes,  1801,  p.  217. 

Rules  for  Intercourse  between  the  Trustees  and  the  Assembly. 

"The  committee  appointed  to  meet  a  committee  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Assembly,  to  digest  and  prepare  a  regular  and  stated 
mode  of  intercourse  between  the  Assembly  and  the  trustees,  made  a 
report,  which  was  read  and  approved,  as  follows,  viz. : 

"That  the  management  and  disposal  of  all  moneys,  goods,  chattels, 
lands,  tenements,  hereditaments,  and  all  other  estate  whatever,  committed 
to  their  care  and  trust  by  the  General  Assembly,  is  invested  in  the  said 
trustees ;  unless  where  special  instructions  for  the  management  and  dis 
posal  thereof  shall  be  given  by  the  General  Assembly  in  writing  under 
the  hand  of  their  clerk  ;  in  which  case,  the  corporation  is  to  act  according 
to  said  instructions.  That  an  exact  state  of  the  accounts  of  the  trustees 
is  to  be  exhibited  by  their  treasurer  to  the  General  Assembly,  once  in 
every  year ;  whereupon  it  is  recommended, 


THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  189 

"  1.  That  this  state  of  the  accounts  be  laid  before  the  General  Assem 
bly  as  early  in  their  sessions  as  possible,  in  order  that  the  General  Assem 
bly  may  know  what  appropriations  it  may  be  in  their  power  to  make, 
or  what  instructions  to  give  to  their  trustees,  respecting  the  moneys  in 
hand. 

"  2.  That  when  any  appropriations  are  made  by  the  General  Assembly, 
a  copy  of  their  minute  for  that  purpose,  signed  by  the  clerk,  shall  be 
transmitted  to  the  trustees,  and  shall  be  their  warrant  for  the  payment 
of  all  moneys  thus  appropriated. 

"3.  That  when  any  measures  are  taken,  or  any  resolutions  adopted 
by  the  General  Assembly,  or  the  Board  of  Trustees,  which  it  concerns 
the  other  to  be  acquainted  with,  due  information  of  the  same  shall  be 
given,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  the  other." — Minutes,  1801,  p.  232. 

25.  Powers  of  the  General  Assembly. 

[The  Assembly  has  exercised  the  power  Of  transferring  churches 
from  one  Synod  and  Presbytery  to  another. — Minutes,  1824,  p.  105  ; 
1827,  p.  201,  202,  205;  1829,  p.  260;  1831,  p.  324. 

Usually  the  record  states  the  consent  of  the  parties  interested. 

Of  forming  new  Presbyteries.  Huntingdon,  Minutes,  1794,  p.  89; 
Columbia  and  Oneida,  1802,  p.  252.  In  this  case:  "Whereas,  doubts 
arose,  whether  it  is  proper  for  the  Assembly  to  interfere  for  the  purpose 
of  making  such  division  (of  the  Presbytery  of  Albany), — the  proposal 
not  having  first  been  laid  before  the  Synod, — as  it  would  establish  a 
precedent  which  might  tend  to  confusion,  and  in  the  end  to  schism. 
The  Assembly  think  it  expedient  to  declare,  that  their  decision  in  this 
case  has  been  particularly  influenced  by  the  pressure  of  circumstances, 
and  is  not  to  be  considered  a  precedent  for  future  conduct."  Oneida, 
1805,  p.  324;  Chenango,  1826,  p.  176;  Detroit,  1827,  p.  206;  Phila 
delphia  2d,  1832,  p.  361;  Philadelphia  3d,  1836,  p.  278;  San  Fran 
cisco,  1849,  p.  176;  Milwaukie,  1851,  p.  15;  Sierra  Nevada  and  San 
Jose,  1857,  p.  383. 

Of  dividing  Presbyteries.  Either  to  alter  their  bounds  or  to  form 
new  Presbyteries. — Minutes,  passim. 

Of  dissolving  Presbyteries.  Philadelphia  3d.    Minutes,  1837,  p.  472. 

Of  erecting  Synods.     Chap,  v,  sec.  2. 

Of  dividing  Synods  and  changing  their  boundaries. 

Of  managing  the  whole,  business  of  Missions.  Minutes,  1791,  p.  38; 
1802,  p.  226;  1809,  p.  427.  See  chap.  ix. 

Powers  with  reference  to  slavery.     See  chap,  vii,  sec.  9.] 


190  V. — COURTS   OF    THE    CHURCH. 

26.    The  Assembly  will  not  ordinarily  decide  questions  in  thesi. 

a.  "  But  while  the  General  Assembly  is  invested  with  the  power  of 
deciding  in  all  controversies,  respecting  doctrine  and  discipline;  of  re 
proving,  warning,  or  bearing  testimony  against  error  in  doctrine  in  any 
church,  Presbytery,  or  Synod ;  or  of  suppressing  schisrnatical  conten 
tions  and  disputations,  all  such  matters  ought  to  be  brought  before  the 
Assembly  in  a  regular  and  constitutional  way.     And  it  does  not  appear 
that  the  Constitution  ever  designed  that  the  General  Assembly  should 
take  up  abstract  cases,  and  decide  on  them,  especially  when  the  object 
appears  to  be  to  bring  those  decisions  to  bear  on  particular  individuals, 
not  judicially  before  the  Assembly.     Neither  does  it  appear,  that  the 
Constitution  of  the  Church  intended  that  any  person  or  persons  should 
have  the  privilege  of  presenting  for  decision,  remonstrances,  respecting 
points  of  doctrine,  on  the  conduct  of  individuals,  not  brought  up  from 
the  inferior  judicatories,  by  appeal,  reference,  or  complaint;  and  this 
especially,  when  such  remonstrances  contain  no  evidence  whatsoever,  of 
the  facts  alleged,  but  mere  statements,  of  the  truth  or  justness  of  which 
the  Assembly  have  no  means  of  judging,  inasmuch  as  a  contrary  course 
would  allow  of  counter  and  contradictory  remonstrances,  without  end/' — 
Minutes,  1822,  p.  50. 

b.  "  It  is  ordinarily  undesirable  for  the  General  Assembly  to  decide 
questions  in  tJiesi,  which  are  liable  to  be  brought  before  it  in  its  judicial 
capacity,  as  it  may  thus  virtually  prejudge  cases  of  discipline;  it  appears 
better  that  it  should  ordinarily  follow,  in  this  respect,  the  uniform  prac 
tice  of  civil  courts,  to  decide  legal  principles  only  upon  actual  cases  pre 
sented."—  Minutes,  1856,  p.  213. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

OF    DISCIPLINE. 
SECTION  1. — GENERAL  PRINCIPLES. 

Censure,  without  trial,  is  informal;  and  connecting  names  with  charges  of  a 
serious  nature,  without  evidence,  disapproved  of. — Circulating  evil  reports, 
not  in  the  performance  of  indispensable  duty,  is  slander. — Ministers  are  not 
to  be  excluded  from  the  pulpits  of  the  churches,  nor  members  from  communion, 
without  trial. — 2.  The  charges  must  be  specific. — a.  What  must  be  specified 
in  a  charge  of  heresy. — 3.  The  rules  must  be  observed.  An  appeal  is  sus 
tained,  because  the  judicature  did  not  observe  the  constitutional  rules.  The 
defendant  is  entitled  to  a  copy  of  the  proceedings. — a.  A  judgment  of  Synod 
reversed ;  four  reasons  assigned. — b.  An  appeal  may  not  be  entertained  when 
due  notice  has  not  been  given;  nor  may  the  fact  of  an  appeal  be  established 
otherwise  than  as  ordered  by  the  book. — c.  A  superior  judicature  may  not  try  a 
man  when  there  is  no  reference  or  appeal  before  it. — d.  An  unconstitutional  act 
ordered  to  be  reversed ;  but  the  order  for  a  new  trial  does  not  restore  the  defen 
dant. — 4.  The  authority  for  judicial  oaths. — 5.  Testimony  in  a  judicial  case 
should  be  under  oath. — 6.  A  husband  and  wife  may  be  joint  witnesses,  but 
great  care  should  be  taken  to  guard  against  collusion. — 7.  The  accused  should 
be  present  at  his  trial.  Having  excused  himself  by  letter  for  non-attendance,  he 
is  not  guilty  of  contumacy. — 8.  A  disproportionate  censure  will  not  be  sustained  ; 
either  in  case  the  charges  are  not  fully  substantiated,  or  the  sentence  too  severe. 
On  an  appeal,  the  judicatory  may  not  pass  a  new  sentence. — 9.  Suspension 
from  the  ministry,  during  process.  For  a  specified  time. — 10.  When  an  elder  has 
been  suspended  from  church  privileges,  removal  of  suspension  does  not  restore 
him  to  office.  He  can  be  restored  to  office  only  by  express  act  of  the  Session, 
and  acquiescence  of  the  church. — 11.  A  suspended  minister  is  not  to  be  re 
garded  as  possessing  the  rights  of  a  common  Christian  in  good  standing. — 12. 
Deposition  and  excommunication  are  distinct  acts. — 13.  When  deposed  ministers 
continue  to  perform  ministerial  functions,  their  names  are  to  be  published. — 14. 
Refusal  to  submit  to  the  decision  debars  the  right  of  petition. — 15.  Refusal  to 
submit  does  not  invalidate  the  sentence. — 16.  A  Presbytery  is  censured  for  re 
storing  a  man  without  due  evidence  of  penitence  ;  but — 17.  When  a  minister 
has  been  restored  he  can  be  deprived  of  his  office  only  by  a  new  process  and 


192  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

conviction. — IS.  New  trial  may  be  had  on  new  testimony.  If  it  seem  desirable 
for  a  court  to  review  its  decisions  without  new  testimony,  it  should  refer  the 
case  to  the  next  higher  judicatory. — 19.  A  Synod  corrects  its  own  hasty  action, 
and  is  sustained;  but  a  judicatory  may  not  call  back  a  case  after  an  appeal  has 
been  taken. — 20.  The  accused,  on  trial,  has  no  right  to  introduce  testimony  which 
would  inculpate  others  not  on  trial. — 21.  The  Assembly  cannot  reverse  the 
judicial  acts  of  a  former  Assembly,  unless  in  case  of  error. — 22.  The  decisions  of 
the  superior  courts  are  binding  on  the  inferior. — 23.  The  judicial  sentences  of 
sister  churches  are  to  be  respected. 

1.    Censure  without  trial  informal. 

a.  u  Messrs.  Ker  and  Rankin,  the  commissioners  to  this  Assembly 
from  the  Presbytery  of  Lewes,  in  behalf  and  by  the  order  of  the  said 
Presbytery,  applied  to  the  Assembly,  and  remonstrated  against  a  de 
cision  of  the  last  Assembly,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Hindinan,  in  which  they 
conceive  the  Presbytery  of  Lewes  is  virtually  condemned,  without  their 
having  had  an  opportunity  of  defending  themselves,  which  they  conceive 
they  could  readily  have  done. 

"  After  considerable  discussion,  it  was 

"  Resolved,  As  the  sense  of  this  house,  that  no  man,  or  body  of  men, 
agreeably  to  the  Constitution  of  this  Church,  ought  to  be  condemned, 
or  censured,  without  having  notice  of  the  accusation  against  him  or 
them,  and  notice  given  for  trial.  And  therefore,  that  if  the  General 
Assembly  of  last  year  meant,  by  the  minute  in  question,  to  pass  a 
censure  on  the  Presbytery  of  Lewes,  it  was  informal." — Minutes,  1793, 
p.  71. 

b.  "  The  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  records  of  the  Synod 
of  the  Carolinas  reported,  and  the  book  was  approved  to  page  28  of  the 
twenty-third  sessions  of  said  Synod,  with  the  exception  of  the  resolution 
to  make  a  minister  liable  to  suspension  without  trial,  for  three  years' 
absence  from  Synod,  without  sending  forward  his  reasons  for  absence." — 
Minutes,  1811,  p.  468. 

Censure  upon  an  Absent  Person,  icitlwut  Citation,  disapproved  of. 

c.  "The  Assembly  moreover  cannot  forbear  expressing  their  regret  that 
the  Presbytery  of  Washington  should  have  passed  a  vote  of  censure  upon 
Mr.  McCalla,  without  citing  him  to  appear  before  them,  or  giving  him 
any  opportunity  of  making  a  defence;  since  this  mode  of  proceeding 
seems  to  have  occasioned  a  portion  of  the  irregularity  in  the  Presbytery 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES.  193 

of  West  Lexington,  of  which  the  Presbytery  of  Washington  have  com- 
plained."— Minutes,  1821,  p.  21. 

Names  should  not  be  connected  with  serious  Charges,  unless  in  connection 
with  a  Prosecution. 

d.  "  That  while  it  is  unquestionably  the  privilege  of  individuals  and 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  when  they  think  they  see  the 
peace,  purity,  or  prosperity  of  the  Church  in  danger,  either  from  an  in 
dividual,  or  from  an  inferior  court,  to  apply  to  the  General  Assembly,  in 
an  orderly  mariner,  for  redress  or  direction ;  yet,  in  such  cases,  unless  they 
mean  to  come  forward  as  prosecutors,  with  the  necessary  testimony,  they 
should  most  carefully  avoid  mentioning  names  connected  with  charges 
of  the  most  serious  kind,  in  support  of  which  no  evidence  has  been  or 
derly  adduced  ',  nor  have  the  individuals  thus  accused  had  an  opportu 
nity  of  replying  to  those  charges,  or  of  making  any  defence  of  them 
selves.     The  Assembly,  therefore,  cannot  witness  a  procedure  of  this 
kind,  without  expressing  their  disapprobation  of  it." — Minutes,  1824, 
p.  113. 

To  circulate  Evil  Reports,  not  in  the  way  of  Duty,  is  Slander. 

e.  u  Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  sustain  the  appeals  of  the  Session 
of  the  church  of  Bloomington,  and  of  Dr.  Wylie,  against  a  decision  of 
the  Synod  of  Indiana;  and  the  judgment  of  the  Presbytery  and  Session 
is  hereby  confirmed,  on  the  ground  that  Mr.  Harney  circulated  evil 
reports  against  Dr.  Wylie,  without  showing  that  he  did  it  in  the  due 
performance  of  some  indispensable  duty;  but  it  is  the  judgment  of  this 
Assembly,  that  Mr.  Harney  shall  still  have  the  privilege,  if  he  desire 
it,  of  commencing  a  prosecution  against  Dr.  Wylie,  before  the  Presby 
tery  of  Yincennes ;  and  in  such  case,  said  Presbytery  are  hereby  author 
ized  and  directed  to  hear  the  whole  cause,  and  issue  the  same  in  a  con 
stitutional  way." — Minutes,  1834,  p.  443. 

Ministers  may  not  le  Excluded  from  the  Pulpits  of  the  Churches,  nor 
Members  from  Communion,  without  Trial. 

f.  "  Whereas,  it  appears  from  memorials  sent  up  to  this  Assembly, 
that  several  of  our  Presbyteries  have  adopted  resolutions  excluding  slave 
holders  from  their  pulpits,  and  from  their  communion ;  and  whereas,  our. 

13 


194  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

Constitution  requires  that  no  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  shall 
be  thus  disfranchised,  without  a  regular  trial  and  conviction  •  and 
whereas,  this  proceeding  is  a  repetition  of  the  exscinding  acts  of  the 
New  Basis  Assembly,  against  which  we  have  taken  our  stand  as  friends 
of  the  Constitution.  Therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  said  Presbyteries  be  requested  to  rescind  such 
resolutions/' — Minutes,  1840,  p.  24. 

2.    Charges  must  be  Specific. 

a.  "The  Synod  orders  that  all  their  judicatures  shall,  for  the  future, 
be  particularly  careful  not  to  receive  or  judge  of  any  charges,  but  such 
as  shall  be  seasonably  reduced  to  a  specialty  in  the  complaint  laid  before 
them."— Minutes,  1770,  p.  406. 

I.  "  There  was  a  great  deficiency  in  the  charges  preferred  against 
Mr.  Craighead,  as  it  relates  to  precision.  All  charges  for  heresy  should 
be  as  definite  as  possible.  The  article  or  articles  of  faith  impugned 
should  be  specified,  and  the  words  supposed  to  be  heretical  shown  to  be 
in  repugnance  to  these  articles/ whether  the  reference  is  made  directly 
to  the  Scripture  as  a  standard  of  orthodoxy,  or  to  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  which  our  Church  holds  to  be  a  summary  of  the  doctrines  of 
Scripture."— Minutes,  1824,  p.  121. 

3.    The  Rules  must  be  Observed. 

a.  "The  Assembly  sustained  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Arthur  from  the 
sentence  of  the  Presbytery,  by  which  he  was  suspended  from  the  Gospel 
ministry,  on  the  ground  of  contumacy,  because  the  Presbytery  appeared 
to  have  been  precipitate,  and  not  to  have  observed  the  constitutional 
rules.  See  Discipline,  chap,  iv,  sees.  6,  10,  and  11.  They  deem,  too, 
the  request  of  Mr.  Arthur,  for  a  copy  of  the  first  sentence,  to  have  been 
reasonable,  and  that  it  ought  to  have  been  complied  with.  But  the 
appeal  from  the  first  sentence,  by  which  the  charge  of  slander,  preferred 
against  him  by  the  Rev.  Joshua  L.  Wilson,  was  declared  to  be  substan 
tiated,  and  Mr.  Arthur  required  to  submit  to  a  rebuke,  the  Assembly  could 
not  sustain.  For,  although  the  Assembly  noticed  the  omission  of  Pres 
bytery  to  assign  Mr.  Arthur  counsel  to  manage  his  defence  (see  Disci 
pline,  chap,  iv,  sec.  13),  yet  they  did  judge  the  pamphlet,  of  which  Mr. 
Arthur  admitted  himself  to  be  the  author,  to  contain  slander  against 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.  195 

Mr.  Wilson,  and  could  not  but  disapprove  of  the  spirit,  under  the  influ 
ence  of  which  it  appeared  to  have  been  written." — Minutes,  1822,  p.  53. 

Judgment  of  the  Synod  of  Genesee  Reversed. 

I.  On  the  complaint  of  William  H.  Beecher  and  others  against  the 
Synod  of  Genesee,  in  the  case  of  the  appeal  of  Dr.  Frank  from  the  de 
cision  of  the  Presbytery  of  Genesee,  the  General  Assembly  sustain  the 
complaint,  and  reverse  the  judgment  of  the  Synod  on  the  following 
grounds,  viz.  : 

"  1.  That  the  merits  of  the  case  seem  to  be  expressly  declined  by  the 
Synod,  as  the  subject-matter  of  adjudication. 

U2.  That  the  Synod  appear  not  to  have  adhered  to  the  alternatives 
prescribed  by  the  Constitution.  See  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sec. 
3,  sub-section  10. 

"3.  That  the  Synod  seem  to  have  forgotten  the  nature  and  the  limits 
of  their  appellate,  as  distinguished  from  the  original  jurisdiction  in  the 
case, — in  that  they  censure  at  their  bar  the  appellant,  in  a  way  compe 
tent,  in  any  circumstances,  only  to  the  Session  of  the  church  to  which 
the  appellant  was  primarily  amenable. 

"  4.  That  they  seem  to  have  forgotten  also,  in  restoring  the  appellant, 
that  some  expression  of  repentance  ought  to  have  been  exacted,  espe 
cially  if  their  reprimand  could,  from  any  tribunal,  have  been  deserved. 

"  The  Assembly  therefore  rule  that  the  Synod  of  Genesee  should 
review  their  proceedings  in  this  case,  and  regarding  alike  the  rules  of 
the  Constitution  and  the  merits  of  the  case,  that  they  proceed  to  issue 
the  same  with  equity  and  wisdom." — Minutes,  1840,  p.  11. 

Due  Notice  of  an  Appeal  must  be  given. 

c.  "  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Utica  were  approved,  with  the  follow 
ing  exceptions : 

"  1.  That  the  Syncd  issued  an  appeal  from  the  inferior  juditfatory, 
when  it  appeared  before  them  that  an  appellant  had  not  given  notice  in 
writing  that  he  should  appeal,  with  his  reasons  assigned  for  appealing, 
as  required  by  the  Book  of  Discipline,  before  the  riding  of  the  judicatory 
appealed  from,  or  within  ten  days  thereafter. 

11 2.  That  the  Synod  violated  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  in 
qualifying  the  members  of  the  inferior  judicatory  to  ascertain  whether 
an  appeal  had  been  given,  when  the  Book  of  Discipline  requires  that 


196  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

the  appeal  shall  be  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  moderator ;  and  further, 
that  the  inferior  judicatory  shall  send  authentic  copies  of  all  the  records, 
and  of  ail  the  testimony  relating  to  the  matter  of  appeal,  up  to  the 
Synod,  whose  duty  it  is  to  issue  the  appeal,  when  found  to  be  in  order, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  Book  of  Discipline." — Minutes,  1840,  p.  12. 

A  Superior  Judicatory  may  not  try  a  Man  on  review  of  Records. 

d.  "In  the  case  of  the  appeal  of  W.  C.  Davis,  the  Assembly — 
"Resolved,  That  although  they  highly  approve   of  the  zeal  of  the 

Synod  to  preserve  the  purity  and  peace  of  the  Church  within  their 
bounds,  yet  they  cannot  but  decide  that  in  their  proceedings  in  the 
above  case,  in  deciding  that  they  had  a  right  to  try  Mr.  Davis,  when 
there  was  no  reference  nor  appeal  in  his  case  before  them,  they  have  not 
strictly  adhered  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." — 
Minutes,  1810,  p.  448. 

Unconstitutional  Action  ordered,  to  le  reversed. 

e.  "The  proceedings  of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  in  the  institution 
and  prosecution  of  judicial  process  against  William  Graham,  subjecting 
him  first  to  censure,  and  afterwards  to  suspension,  under  which  he  now 
labors,  are  unconstitutional  and  irregular,  and  therefore  null  and  void ; 
and  the  Synod  is  hereby  enjoined  to  take  constitutional  action  in  the 
case,  and  to  revise  and  correct  its  proceedings  accordingly. 

"While  the  Assembly  thus  speaks  on  the  constitutionality  of  the 
matter,  they  do  it  without  reference  to  the  error  or  truth  of  the  senti 
ments  he  advanced." — Minutes,  1846,  pp.  81,  32. 

An  Order  for  a  New  Trial  does  not  restore  the  Defendant. 

"It  was— 

"Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  do  not  intend  by  the  above 
decision  to  restore  Mr.  Graham  to  his  ministerial  standing;  that  action 
being  left  entirely  to  the  Synod." — Ibid.  p.  33. 

4.    The  Authority  for  Judicial  Oaths. 

"The  committee  appointed  to  draft  an  answer  to  the  following  ques 
tion,  overtured  from  the  Presbytery  of  Georgia,  viz.,  '  Whence  do  the 
General  Assembly  derive  authority  to  empower  the  moderator  of  a 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES.  197 

church,  session  to  administer  an  oath  ?'  reported  the  following,  which  was 
adopted,  viz.  :  'An  oath  for  confirmation  (saith  the  Apostle),  is  to  men 
an  end  of  all  strife/  Heb.  6  :  16.  It  is  a  solemn  affirmation,  wherein 
we  appeal  to  God  as  the  witness  of  the  truth  of  what  we  say,  and  with 
an  imprecation  of  his  vengeance  if  what  we  affirm  is  false,  or  what  we 
promise  be  not  performed.  Its  force  results  from  a  belief  that  God  will 
punish  false  swearing  with  more  severity  than  a  simple  lie,  or  breach  of 
promise;  because  perjury  is  a  sin  of  greater  deliberation,  and  violates 
superior  confidence. 

That  oaths  are  lawful  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  our  Lord,  when 
interrogated  on  certain  occasions,  answered  upon  oath.  See  Matt.  26  : 
63,  64.  Paul  also  uses  several  expressions  which  contain  the  nature  of 
an  oath.  See  Rom.  1 :  9;  9  :  1;  1  Cor.  15  :  31  •  2  Cor.  1 :  18  ;  Gal.  1 :  20. 
They  are  solemn  appeals  to  God.  It  is  manifest  that  oaths  are  not  to 
be  used  on  light  or  trivial  occasions.  We  are  expressly  commanded 
not  to  take  God's  name  in  vain.  But  as  the  Bible  does  not  point  out 
the  particular  occasions  when  oaths  are  to  be  used,  nor  the  persons  who 
are  to  administer  them,  these  circumstances  are  left  to  the  discretion  of 
individuals  and  communities.  The  necessity  of  oaths  is  founded  in 
expediency ;  and  all  associations,  whether  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  have  a 
right  to  use  them  for  confirmation,  when,  in  the  exercise  of  a  sound  dis 
cretion,  they  are  deemed  important.  It  is  lawful  for  every  community, 
in  the  compact  on  which  their  union  is  founded,  to  point  out  the  cases 
in  which  oaths  shall  be  used,  and  who  shall  administer  them.  The 
authority  of  moderators  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  administer  oaths 
is  not  derived  from  the  General  Assembly,  but  from  the  Constitution,  or 
articles  of  compact,  which  our  churches  have  adopted,  and  by  which 
they  have  agreed  to  be  governed  as  a  Christian  community.  It  may  be 
proper  also  to  add,  that  the  oaths  prescribed  by  ecclesiastical  authority, 
and  administered  by  civil  authority,  in  no  respect  interfere  with  our 
relations  to  civil  society.  Nor  can  the  administering  of  them,  if  rightly 
viewed,  be  considered  as  a  violation  of  those  laws  of  the  State  which 
prescribe  the  manner  in  which  civil  oaths  shall  be  administered/' — 
Minutes,  1823,  pp.  87,  88. 

5.    Testimony  in  a  Judicial  Case  should  le  under  Oatli. 

"  There  is  only  one  other  thing  in  the  proceedings  on  which  the  Gene 
ral  Assembly  will  remark ;  which  is,  that  statements  were  given  as  evi- 


198  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

dence  by  the  members  of  Presbytery  which  are  not  recorded,  and  which 
do  not  appear  to  have  been  given  under  the  usual  solemnity  of  an  oath/' 
[Craighead' s  case.]— Minutes,  1824,  p.  122. 

6.  A  Husband  and  Wife  may  lie  Joint  Witnesses. 

"The  Assembly  went  into  the  consideration  of  the  case  reported 
by  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio,  which  was  in  the  following  terms,  viz.  :  ( A 
certain  married  woman  charges  an  unmarried  man  with  immodest  con 
versation  and  conduct  in  attempts  upon  her  chastity,  of  which  her  hus 
band  and  another,  or  indifferent  person,  were  at  a  certain  time  witnesses. 
Whereas  our  Constitution  declares  that  a  person  accused  shall  not  be 
convicted  by  a  single  witness,  can  the  said  woman  and  her  husband  be 
admitted  witnesses  in  the  above  case  ?' 

"  To  the  above  question  the  Assembly  answered,  that  in  all  such  cases 
as  that  submitted  by  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio,  it  is  a  principle  that  both 
the  husband  and  wife  are  to  be  admitted  to  give  testimony.  But  in 
every  particular  case  as  it  occurs,  the  judicature  before  whom  it  is  tried 
ought,  in  order  to  guard  against  collusion,  to  pay  a  very  scrupulous  re 
gard  to  all  the  circumstances  attending  it,  and  especially  to  the  charac 
ters  of  those  who  are  admitted  as  evidences,  so  that  on  the  one  hand  the 
necessity  of  the  case  may  be  consulted,  and,  on  the  other,  that  no  injury 
may  result  to  an  innocent  person/' — Minutes,  1797,  p.  128. 

7.    The  Accused  must  le  Present  at  the  Trial. 

"  In  the  progress  of  this  case,  the  Presbytery  proceeded  regularly  to 
cite  the  accused,  once  and  again ;  and  upon  his  not  appearing,  they  pro 
ceeded  to  the  trial,  and  having  gone  through  the  evidence,  they  referred 
the  whole  to  the  Synod  to  adjudicate  upon  it,  with  the  expression  of 
their  own  opinion,  that  Mr.  Craighead  ought  to  be  suspended.  The 
Synod  met  immediately  after  Presbytery,  and  took  up  the  case,  and,  in 
concurrence  with  the  opinion  of  the  Presbytery,  suspended  Mr.  Craig- 
head  from  the  Gospel  ministry. 

"  In  this  proceeding,  the  General  Assembly  are  of  opinion  that  there 
was  too  much  haste.  Mr.  Craighead  was  not  guilty  of  contumacy,  for 
he  wrote  two  letters  to  the  Presbytery,  excusing  himself  for  non-attend 
ance  ;  and  if  he  had  been  guilty  of  contumacy,  he  ought  to  have  been 
suspended  on  that  ground.  Perhaps  no  man  ought  to  be  tried  on 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES.  199 

charges  preferred,  and  to  be  supported  by  evidence,  who  is  not  present, 
without  his  own  consent.  A  trial,  in  the  nature  of  things,  cannot  be 
impartial,  when  there  is  but  one  party  heard." — Minutes,  1824,  p.  121. 

8.   A  Disproportionate  Censure  not  sustained. 

a.  "  It  being  the  order  of  the  day,  the  Assembly  proceeded  to  con 
sider  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Jabez  Spicer  from  the  decision  of  the  Synod  of 
Geneva,  by  which  Mr.  Spicer  had  been  deposed  from  the  Gospel  minis 
try.  The  documents  on  the  subject  were  read,  and  the  parties  were 
heard.  After  a  considerable  discussion,  the  following  resolution  was 
adopted,  viz. : 

11  Resolved,  That  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Spicer  be  sustained,  on  the  ground 
that  the  sentence  pronounced  on  him  was  disproportioned  to  his  crime, 
it  not  appearing  substantiated  that  he  was  guilty  of  more  than  a  single 
act  of  prevarication.  While,  therefore,  the  Assembly  express  their 
entire  disapprobation  of  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Spicer,  as  unbecoming  a 
Christian  and  Christian  minister,  they  reverse  the  sentence  of  deposition 
passed  upon  him  by  the  Presbytery,  and  direct  that,  after  suitable  admo 
nitions  and  acknowledgments,  he  be  restored  to  the  ministerial  office." — 
Minutes,  1821,  p.  24. 

5.  "  The  discussion  left  unfinished  yesterday  afternoon  was  resumed, 
viz.,  of  the  motion  to  reverse  a  decision  of  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington, 
by  which  decision  Mr.  George  Bourne  was  deposed  from  the  Gospel 
ministry.  This  motion,  after  it  had  been  amended  and  fully  discussed, 
was  determined  in  the  affirmative,  and  is  as  follows,  viz.  : 

"  The  Assembly  judge  that  the  charges  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Bourne 
were  not  fully  substantiated,  and  that  if  they  had  been,  the  sentence 
was  too  severe.  Therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  sentence  of  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington,  de 
posing  Mr.  Bourne,  be  reversed,  and  it  is  hereby  reversed;  and  that  the 
Presbytery  commence  the  trial  anew." — Minutes,  1817,  p.  646. 

c.  "  The  Assembly  sustain  the  appeal  of  David  Price  from  the  de 
cision  of  the  Synod  of  Geneva,  on  the  ground  that  the  charge  of  intox 
ication  was  not  sufficiently  supported  by  the  testimony;  although  it  does 
appear,  principally  from  his  own  confession,  that  he  had  made  an  unbe 
coming  use  of  ardent  spirits;  and  that  an  admonition  was,  in  the  view 
of  the  Assembly,  deserved,  and  would  have  been  sufficient." — Minutes, 
1825,  p.  155. 


200  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

The  Superior  Judicature  may  not  Pass  a  Neiv  Censure  without  a  New 

Trial 

d.  "Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly,  having  heard  and  con 
sidered  in  detail  the  circumstances  and  merits  of  the  appeal  of  Newton 
Hawes,  are  of  the  opinion  that  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Synod  of 
Genesee  in  the  case,  there  appears  to  be  nothing  irregular  or  censurable, 
until  they  come  to  their  last  decision,  in  which  they  pass  a  new  and 
severe  censure  on  the  appellant.  In  this  particular,  the  Assembly  judge 
that  the  proceedings  of  the  Synod  were  not  regular,  inasmuch  as  they 
inflicted  a  new  censure,  without  a  new  and  regular  trial.  Had  the 
Synod  contented  themselves  with  approving  the  doings  of  the  church  of 
Warsaw,  in  declining  to  restore  the  appellant  to  their  communion,  and 
left  him  in  the  condition  of  a  suspended  member,  they  would  have  acted 
with  entire  regularity.  But  not  pausing  at  this  point,  the  Assembly 
consider  them  as  acting  on  matters  not  regularly  brought  before  them; 
and,  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  sentence  of  the  Synod,  requiring  the  appellant 
to  make  a  new  and  second  confession,  be  reversed,  and  it  is  hereby  re 
versed  ;  and  that  the  other  part  of  their  proceedings  and  decision  be 
affirmed,  and  they  are  hereby  affirmed." — Minutes,  1823,  p.  79. 

9.   Suspension  from  the  Ministry  during  Process. 

a.  "  Overtured,  that  a  committee  be  sent  to  Rehoboth,  with  full  power 
from  the  Synod  to  act  in  their  names  and  by  their  authority,  in  the  affair 
between  Mr.  Clement  and  that  people ;  and  that  Mr.  Clement  be  sus 
pended  from  the  exercise  of  his  ministry,  until  the  determination  of  that 
committee.  This  overture  was  carried  by  a  vote  in  the  affirmative, 
nemine  contradlcentc." — Minutes,  1720,  p.  G2. 

l>.  "  The  consideration  of  Mr.  Alexander  Miller's  complaint  resumed, 
and  upon  full  inquiry  the  Synod  conclude  that,  as  the  Presbytery  of 
Hanover  are  not  present,  and  it  has  not  been  made  appear  before  us 
that  they  were  cited  to  be  present,  or  informed  that  Mr.  Alexander 
Miller  intended  to  lodge  a  complaint  against  them  before  the  Synod  at 
this  time,  we  cannot  now  enter  upon  the  consideration  of  the  merits  of 
the  complaint,  but  order  both  the  Presbytery  and  Mr.  Alexander  Miller 
to  attend  our  next  Synod,  prepared  for  a  full  hearing,  and,  in  the  mean 
time,  on  account  of  Mr.  Miller's  unjustifiable  delay  for  some  years  to 


I 

GENERAL    PRINCIPLES.  201 

enter  his  complaint  before  us,  the  irregularity  of  his  proceedings  during 
that  time,  and  the  atrocious  nature  of  the  crimes  laid  to  his  charge,  we 
do  hereby  declare  him  suspended  from  the  exercise  of  the  ministerial 
office  till  his  complaint  can  be  fully  heard." — Minutes,  1769,  p.  396. 


Suspension  from  the  Ministry  for  a  Specified  Time. 

c.  "  The  affair  of  Mr.  Robert  Cross,  transmitted  from  the  interlo- 
quitur  of  the  Synod,  came  into  consideration  before  the  Synod,  wherein 
the  charges  of  fornication  laid  against  him,  with  its  aggravations,  were 
fully  heard  and  considered  with  great  deliberation,  and  also  charged 
upon  him  by  the  moderator,  in  the  face  of  the  Synod,  and  before  several 
other  discreet  persons  who  were  desired  to  be  present.  And  the  said 
Mr.  Robert  Cross  did,  with  great  seriousness,  humility,  and  signs  of  true 
repentance,  confess  the  charge  laid  against  him,  and  in  all  respects  did 
so  behave  himself  as  was  universally  satisfactory  to  the  Synod  and  the 
other  persons  present. 

"Overturedj  That  Mr.  Cross  be  suspended  by  act  of  the  Synod  four 
Sabbaths,  and  at  the  expiration  of  said  time  he  have  liberty  again  to 
preach  the  Gospel.  And  that,  at  the  desire  of  the  congregation  of  New 
Castle,  or  their  representatives  in  their  name,  he  may  be  again  restored 
to  the  exercise  of  his  ministry  in  that  place  by  a  committee  of  the 
Synod ;  and  that  the  said  committee  meet  at  said  place  at  least  three 
days  before  the  expiration  of  the  said  time." 

"  This  overture  was  agreed  to  by  Synod." — Minutes,  1720,  p.  63. 

10.  Restoration  to  Communion  does  not  restore  to  Office. 

"  When  an  elder  has  been  suspended  from  Church  privileges  for  an 
offence,  and  again  restored  to  the  privileges  of  the  Church,  is  he  also 
restored  to  his  office  as  a  ruling  elder  ?" 

"Answer.  The  two  things  are  distinct;  and  since  an  elder,  as  well  as 
a  minister,  may  be  suspended  from  his  office,  and  not  from  the  com 
munion  of  the  Church,  so  there  may  be  reasons  for  continuing  his  sus 
pension  from  his  office  after  he  is  restored  to  the  privileges  of  the  Church. 
He  cannot  be  restored  to  the  functions  of  his  office  without  a  special  and 
express  act  of  the  Session  for  that  purpose,  with  the  acquiescence  of  the 
church."— Minutes,  1836,  p.  263. 


202  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 


11.  A  Suspended  Minister  is  not  a  Christian  in  good  standing. 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  records  of  the  Synod  of 
Geneva  reported,  and  their  report  being  read,  was  adopted,  and  is  as 
follows,  viz.  : 

f(  That  the  book  be  approved  to  page  235,  with  the  exception  of  pages 
215,  224,  229,  relative  to  certain  appeals,  in  which  the  nature  of  the 
offence  on  which  the  appeals  are  founded  is  not  specified;  and  of  pages 
227  and  228,  in  which  the  conduct  of  the  Presbytery  of  Cayuga  is  cen 
sured  without  prosecuting  the  subject  to  a  proper  issue;  and  in  pages 
270  and  271,  where  the  conduct  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ontario  is  censured 
for  condemning  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Foreman,  a  suspended  minister,  for 
exercising  the  rights  of  a  common  Christian,  in  illustrating  Scripture  and 
delivering  exhortations  j  because,  without  deciding  on  the  rights  of  com 
mon  Christians  in  this  matter,  Mr.  Foreman  being  suspended  from  the 
ministry,  ought  by  no  means  to  be  considered  as  occupying  the  ground 
of  a  common  Christian  in  good  standing/' — Minutes,  1821,  p.  15. 

*  12.  Deposition  and  Excommunication  distinct  Acts. 

"  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Geneva  are  approved,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  a  resolution  on  page  28,  which  declares  that  a  deposed  minister 
ought  to  be  treated  as  an  excommunicated  person. 

"  In  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  the  deposition  and  excommuni 
cation  of  a  minister  are  distinct  things,  not  necessarily  connected  with 
each  other ;  but  when  connected,  ought  to  be  inflicted  by  the  Presbytery, 
to  whom  the  power  of  judging  and  censuring  ministers  properly  belongs/' 
—Minutes,  1814,  p.  549. 

13.  If  the  Deposed  do  not  submit,  his  Name  to  be  published. 

u  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  Presbyteries  under  the 
care  of  the  General  Assembly,  when  they  shall  depose  any  of  their 
members  from  the  exercise  of  the  ministerial  office ;  and  when  any  person 
so  deposed  shall,  without  having  been  regularly  restored,  assume  the 
ministerial  character,  or  attempt  to  exercise  any  of  the  ministerial  func 
tions,  that  in  such  case,  with  a  view  to  prevent  such  deposed  person 
from  imposing  himself  on  the  churches,  Presbyteries  be  careful  to  have 
his  name  published  in  the  Assembly's  Magazine  as  deposed  from  the 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES.  203 

ministry,  that  all   the  churches  may  be  enabled  to  guard  themselves 
against  such  dangerous  impositions." — Minutes,  1806,  p.  360. 

14.  Refusal  to  Submit  debars  the  Right  of  Petition. 

"The  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  petition  of  Mr.  Bourne 
reported,  and  their  report  being  read,  was  accepted ;  whereupon  it  was — 

"  Resolved,  That,  as  it  appears  to  be  a  fact  that  Mr.  Bourne  has  not 
submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the  Assembly  in  affirming  a  decision  by 
which  he  was  deposed  from  the  Gospel  ministry,  he  be  permitted  to 
withdraw  his  petition." — Minutes,  1823,  p.  93. 

15.  Does  not  Invalidate  the  Sentence. 

a.  "  The  Assembly  proceeded  to  the  consideration  of  the  appeal  of  Mr. 
Josiah  B.  Andrews.  The  roll  was  called,  to  give  each  member  an  oppor 
tunity  to  express  his  opinion  ;  after  which  the  final  vote  was  taken,  when 
it  was — 

u  Resolved,  That  the  decision  of  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey,  affirming 
the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  of  Elizabethtown,  whereby  Mr.  Josiah  B. 
Andrews  was  suspended  from  the  office  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  be  and 
it  hereby  is  affirmed." — Minutes,  1826,  p.  187. 

"  The  following  communication,  dated  June  2d,  1826,  the  day  after  the 
rising  of  the  last  Assembly,  and  addressed  to  the  moderator  of  that 
Assembly,  from  Mr.  Josiah  B.  Andrews,  was  laid  before  the  Assembly, 
viz. : 

"  Notice  is  hereby  most  respectfully  given  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
Presbyterians  in  the  United  States,  that  the  undersigned  conscientiously 
believes  it  to  be  his  duty  to  continue  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  to  per 
form  all  other  ministerial  services,  according  to  the  rule  of  God's  word, 
wherever  he  may  be  providentially  called,  any  resolutions  or  decisions  of 
the  Assembly,  or  of  any  other  ecclesiastical  body  under  their  jurisdiction, 
made  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  God  alone  is  my  judge. 

"  JOSIAH  B.  ANDREWS. 
"Philadelphia,  June  2d,  1826."  —  Minutes,  1827,  p.  198. 

"  Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Assembly,  the  said  letter  is 
highly  contumacious;  and  the  sentiments  avowed  in  it,  a  gross  infraction 
of  Mr.  Andrews's  ordination  vows." — Minutes,  1827,  p.  201. 

I).  "  Mr.  Alexander  Miller  was  called  in,  and  the  above  determination 
of  the  Synod  [see  p.  200]  read  in  his  hearing.  Whereupon  he  gave  in 


204  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

a  paper,  renouncing  the  authority  of  the  Synod.  Upon  which  the  Synod 
find,  that  as  Mr.  Miller  was  deposed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover,  he 
declined  the  judgment  of  that  Presbytery,  and  appealed  to  this  Synod; 
and  while  we  were  taking  measures  to  try  and  issue  his  complaint,  he, 
in  the  paper  aforesaid,  hath  renounced  our  authority.  The  Synod, 
therefore,  declare  he  is  not  a  member  of  this  body,  and  forbid  all  their 
Presbyteries  and  congregations  to  employ  him." — Minutes,  1769,  p.  396. 
c.  "  Resolved,  That  the  Church  of  Geneva  be  referred  to  the  minute 
of  the  Assembly  formed  in  the  case  of  David  Price,  in  the  year  1825, 
from  which  it  will  appear  that,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Assembly,  an 
admonition  was  deserved  by  the  said  Price,  in  consequence  of  his  un 
christian  conduct.  And  it  is  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  that  the 
Session  ought  immediately  to  have  administered  such  admonition;  that 
they  ought  still  to  administer  it;  and  that  if  the  said  Price  refuse  to 
submit  to  such  admonition,  or  do  not  thereupon  manifest  repentance 
and  Christian  temper  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Church,  he  ought  not 
to  be  received  into  the  communion  of  that  or  any  other  Presbyterian 
church."  [See  8,  c,  p.  199.]— Minutes,  1827,  p.  203. 

16.  A  Presbytery  is  Censured  for  restoring  a  Man  without  due  Evidence 

of  Penitence. 

"The  business  left  unfinished  on  Saturday  was  resumed,  viz.,  the 
appeal  of  the  Presbytery  of  Onondaga,  from  a  decision  of  the  Synod 
of  Geneva,  relative  to  the  restoration  of  the  Ilev.  John  Shepherd  to  the 
Gospel  ministry,  who  had  been  deposed  by  the  Association  of  Fairfield, 
Connecticut.  After  considerable  discussion  of  the  subject,  the  following 
resolutions  were  adopted,  viz.  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Geneva,  relative  to  the 
restoration  of  the  Rev.  John  Shepherd  to  the  office  of  the  Gospel  ministry, 
so  far  as  it  censures  the  restoration  of  said  Shepherd,  who  was  deposed 
by  a  judicatory  of  .the  Church  of  Christ  in  fellowship  with  us,  be  and 
hereby  is  confirmed ;  because  it  did  not  appear  from  the  records  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Onondaga,  that  said  restoration  took  place  in  consequence 
of  any  confession  of  the  alleged  crime  for  which  the  said  Shepherd  was 
deposed,  or  of  any  profession  of  penitence  for  it,  or  of  any  conference 
with  the  judicatory  which  deposed  him." — Minutes,  1818,  p.  687. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES.  205 


17.  But  the  action  of  Presbytery  in  such  case  is  final. 

"  That  the  appeal  of  the  Presbytery  of  Onondaga,  so  far  as  it  relates 
to  the  rescinding  of  their  vote  to  restore  the  Rev.  John  Shepherd,  be 
and  hereby  is  sustained,  on  the  second  reason  of  appeal,  and  upon  that 
alone ;  because  the  Assembly  judges  that  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  when 
once  restored  by  Presbyterial  authority,  cannot  be  deprived  of  his  office, 
except  it  be  by  a  new  process  and  conviction." — Minutes,  1818,  p.  687. 

18.  New  Trial  on  new  Testimony  being  produced. 

a.  "The  Assembly  took  into  consideration  the  report  of  the  com 
mittee  on  an  appeal  from  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Aaron  C.  Collins ;  and,  after  mature 
deliberation  thereon,  resolved  as  follows : 

"  1.  That  the  decision  of  the  Synod,  as  founded  on  the  evidence  and 
the  circumstances  which  were  presented  to  them  at  the  time,  was  proper, 
and  is  therefore  confirmed. 

"  2.  That  as  new  evidence,  apparently  of  an  important  kind,  has  been 
alleged  on  this  case  since  the  decision  of  the  Synod,  it  is  proper  that  a 
new  trial  be  instituted  thereon." — Minutes,  1793,  p.  68. 

b.  "  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  well-known  privilege  of  Mr.  Hindman, 
if  he  consider  himself  as  having  new  evidence  to  offer  in  this  case,  to 
apply  to  the  Presbytery  for  a  new  trial  upon  that  new  evidence." — 
Minutes,  1811,  p.  479. 

c.  "  The  Judicial  Committee  reported  on  the  appeal  of  John  "Ward, 
from  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Genesee ',  that  having  duly  considered 
the  case,  they  recommend,  that  on  the  ground  of  new  testimony,  the 
appellant  be  directed  to  apply  to  the  Church  of  Bergen  for  a  new  trial. 
The  above  raport  was  adopted." — Minutes,  1829,  p.  266. 

Neiv  Trial  may  be  granted  on  the  discovert/  of  new  Testimony  ;  but  if  a 
court  thinJts  proper  to  review  a  case,  without  new  testimony,  it  should 
refer  it  to  the  next  higher  judic a  tor y. 

d.  "  The  committee  appointed  to  consider  and  report  on  Overture 
No.  2,  which  is  in  the  following  words:  'Is  it  lawful  and  consistent 
with  the  order  of  our  Church,  for  a  church  court  to  reconsider  and  set 
aside  its  own  decision  in  a  case  of  discipline,  after  a  lapse  of  five  or  six 


206  VI. —  DISCIPLINE. 

years  from  the  time  the  decision  was  made,  after  the  court  has  so  changed, 
that  many  of  its  members  were  not  members  at  the  time  of  the  decision, 
and  when  no  new  testimony  is  proposed  ?'  beg  leave  to  report,  that,  in 
their  opinion,  the  proper  answer  to  this  overture,  will  be  found  included 
in  the  following  principles,  viz.  : 

"1.  Our  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  ix,  sec.  1,  provides,  that  if  after 
a  trial  before  any  judicatory,  new  testimony  be  discovered,  which  is  sup 
posed  to  be  highly  important  to  the  exculpation  of  the  accused,  it  is 
proper  for  him  to  ask,  and  for  the  judicatory  to  grant,  a  new  trial. 

"  2.  It  is  very  conceivable  that,  after  the  lapse  of  five  or  six  years, 
the  sentence  of  an  ecclesiastical  court,  which  was  originally  considered 
as  just  and  wise,  although  no  new  testimony,  strictly  speaking,  has 
appeared,  may  in  the  view  of  the  Church,  appear  under  an  aspect, 
equivalent  to  new  testimony,  and  calling  for  reconsideration ;  yet, 

"8.  Inasmuch  as  the  frequent  reconsideration  of  cases  adjudged  by 
the  inferior  judicatories,  without  the  appearance  of  new  testimony, 
admits  of  great  and  mischievous  abuse,  and  might  lead  to  an  endless 
recurrence  of  reviews  and  reversals  of  former  decisions,  in  the  absence 
of  a  majority  of  the  court  pronouncing  the  same ;  it  is  evidently  more 
regular,  safe,  and  for  edification,  when  a  review  of  a  decision,  without 
the  disclosure  of  new  testimony,  is  thought  desirable,  to  refer  the  case 
to  the  next  higher  judicatory." — Minutes,  1833,  p.  405,  406. 

19.  A  Synod  corrects  its  own  hasty  action,  and  is  sustained. 

a.  u  The  committee  to  whom  the  records  of  the  Synod  of  the  Caro- 
linas  were  recommitted,  beg  leave  to  report :  That  your  committee  find 
that  a  judgment  of  the  Session  of  Salem  was  confirmed  by  the  Presby 
tery  of  Abingdon,  and  brought  by  appeal  before  the  Synod  of  the  Caro- 
linas,  who  remitted  the  cause  to  a  select  Session.  The  sentence  of  this 
Session,  which  appears  to  your  committee  to  have  been  irregular,  was 
affirmed  by  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas,  at  their  sessions  in  October, 
1790.  At  the  same  sessions,  however,  they  resumed  the  cause,  and 
rescinded  the  decision  made  by  the  Synod  two  days  before.  Here  your 
committee  conceive,  that  the  Synod  did  right  as  to  matter,  but  were 
wrong  in  point  of  form;  for  it  does  not  appear  from  the  minutes  that 
there  was  more  than  merely  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Synod  for 
resuming  the  cause." — Minutes,  1791,  pp.  41,  42. 


GENERAL    PRINCIPLES.  207 

But  a  Judicatory  may  not  call  lack  a  case  after  an  Appeal  lias  been 

taken. 

b.  (l  The  Synod  next  proceeded  to  consider  the  appeal ;  but,  before 
they  came  to  a  decision,  a  meeting  was  held  by  the  members  of  Abing- 
don  Presbytery,  then  attending  on  Synod,  at  which  meeting  they  pro 
fessed  to  reverse  the  former  sentence  of  that  Presbytery,  and  reported 
the  same  to  Synod,  in  order  to  preclude  the  farther  proceedings.  Here 
your  committee  observe  that,  in  their  opinion,  the  Presbytery  had  no 
right  to  call  back  the  cause,  after  sentence  by  them  passed,  and  an 
appeal  from  it  carried  up  to  the  superior  court.  The  Synod  having 
agreed  that  they  had  a  right  to  proceed,  notwithstanding  this  information, 
did  accordingly  proceed,  and,  in  a  regular  way,  as  your  committee  con 
ceive,  reversed  the  sentence  of  the  Session  of  Salem,  and  declared  the 
appellant  restored  to  the  privileges  of  the  Church. 

"  Upon  the  whole,  your  committee  conceive  that  the  proceedings  of 
tha't  Synod  should  be  sustained  in  point  of  order  by  the  General  Assem 
bly,  and  their  decision  confirmed.  In  that  instance  in  which  their  pro 
ceedings  seem  to  be  most  contrary  to  regular  discipline,  and  which  is 
particularly  pointed  at  in  the  reasons  of  protest  by  the  members  of 
Abingdon  Presbytery, — we  mean,  resuming  a  case  during  the  same 
session  after  a  decision  first  had  upon  it, — your  committee  judge  that  the 
first  decision  was  made  in  a  way  that  was  entirely  informal,  and  therefore 
they  had  a  right  to  resume  the  cause,  and  issue  it  in  an  orderly  and 
constitutional  way ;  which  they  have  accordingly  done,  though  your 
committee  conceive  that  this  reason  should  have  been  assigned  upon 
their  minutes." — Minutes,  1791,  p.  42. 

20.    The  Accused  has  no  right  to  introduce  Testimony  which  would 
inculpate  those  not  on  Trial. 

"No.  3,  an  overture  on  a  case  of  discipline,  was  taken  up,  and  is  as 
follows  : 

" l  Suppose  a  member  of  the  Church  is  on  trial,  and  his  accuser  is 
"  common  fame."  One  specification  against  him  is,  "  Speaking  evil  of  his 
brethren,  A.  and  B.,  while  he  neglects  to  take  any  Gospel  steps  to  bring 
them  to  repentance  or  to  trial." 

"'The  specification  is  abundantly  sustained  by  testimony;  but  the 
person  on  trial  proposes  to  introduce  testimony  to  prove  that  the  reports 


208  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

which  he  circulated,  and  the  opinions  which  he  pronounced  derogatory 
to  the  brethren  named,  were  true.  Has  the  accused  a  right  to  introduce 
such  testimony,  tending  to  injure  the  character  of  parties  not  on  trial, 
nor  connected  at  all  with  the  prosecution,  and  having  no  opportunity  for 
defence  ? 

"  l  Would  the  Session  be  authorized  to  reject  such  testimony,  on  the 
ground  that,  if  introduced,  it  would  not  exculpate  the  accused,  inasmuch 
as  he  had  no  right  to  circulate  evil  reports  against  his  brethren,  whether 
true  or  false,  while  neglecting  to  bring  them  to  trial  T 

"  To  this  the  following  answer  was  given  : 

" '  The  person  on  trial,  under  charges  tabled  on  the  ground  of  "  com 
mon  fame/'  has  no  right  to  introduce  testimony  which  inculpates  his 
brethren  who  are  not  on  trial,  and  who  have  no  opportunity  to  defend 
themselves,  because  it  was  his  previous  duty  to  take  proper  steps,  if  the 
persons  were  guilty  of  the  evils  which  he  had  alleged  against  them,  to 
bring  them  to  repentance,  or  free  the  Church  from  the  scandal/ " — 
Minutes,  1852,  p.  177. 

21.  The  Assembly  cannot  reverse  the  Judicial  Acts  of  a  former  Assembly, 
unless  Error  be  shown. 

u  This  Assembly  has  no  authority  to  reverse  the  judicial  acts  of  a 
former  General  Assembly,  except  in  cases  of  such  palpable  error  as 
would  manifestly  tend  to  interfere  with  the  substantial  administration 
of  justice."  [Case  of  Samuel  Lowry.] — Minutes j  1824,  p.  115. 

22.    The  Decisions  of  the  Superior  Courts  binding  on  tlie  Inferior. 

"  The  Assembly  cannot  but  express  their  disapprobation  of  the  con 
cluding  paragraph  of  the  memorial  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio,  in  which 
they  say,  '  The  Synod  consider  the  judgments  entered  upon  their  records 
against  Samuel  Lowry,  in  October,  1822,  as  remaining  in  full  force/  &c. 

a  This  declaration,  notwithstanding  the  respectful  expressions  of  the 
Synod,  is  apparently  wanting  in  the  respect  due  from  an  inferior  to  a 
superior  judicatory;  and  is  repugnant  to  the  radical  principles  of  the 
government  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  If  an  inferior  court  has 
authority  to  declare  that  its  own  decisions  are  in  force,  after  they  have 
been  reversed  by  a  superior  court,  then  all  appeals  are  nugatory,  and  our 
system,  as  it  relates  to  judicial  proceedings,  is  utterly  subverted.  The 


APPEALS.  209 

Assembly  are  willing  to  believe,  however,  that  the  Synod  of  Ohio  did 
not  mean  to  set  themselves  in  opposition  to  the  highest  judicatory  of  the 
Church,  and  that  when  they  have  reconsidered  the  matter,  they  will 
rescind  what  is  so  manifestly  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  the 
Constitution,  which  they  have  bound  themselves  to  support." — Minutes, 
1824,  p.  116. 

"  On  the  sixth  exception  to  the  minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati, 
viz.,  '6th.  The  vote  of  the  Synod  not  to  comply  with  the  injunction 
of  the  last  Assembly  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Graham  ;*  in  respect  to  which 
vote  the  Synod  is  directed  to  reconsider  their  action,  and  proceed  in 
conformity  with  the  instructions  of  the  last  Assembly/ — a  long  discussion 
ensued.  Mr.  Spear  moved  to  amend,  by  inserting  l  ought'  in  the  place 
of  'is  directed/  Before  the  question  was  taken,  at  6£  o'clock,  on 
motion  of  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Beecher,  the  whole  subject  was  indefinitely 
postponed." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  177. 

23.  Judicial  Sentences  of  Sister  Churches  to  be  respected. 

[See  ante,  sec.  16,  p.  204.] 

[For  other  cases  of  Discipline,  see  chap.  vii;  sees.  1  and  2  ;  also  chap, 
vi  and  viii,  sees.  2  and  3.] 

SECTION  2. — OF  APPEALS. 

1.  An  appeal  defined.  How  it  differs  from  a  "complaint/' — 2.  The  right  to  ap 
peal  is  limited  to  the  original  parties. — 3.  Limitation  of  time.  It  must  be  pro 
secuted  at  the  first  ensuing  meeting  of  the  judicature  appealed  to,  or  the  sen 
tence  will  be  made  final.  Personal  attendance  is  not  essential. — 4.  The  appeal 
must  be  lodged  with  the  clerk  on  the  first  or  second  day  of  the  sessions  of  the 
"court  appealed  to. — 5.  Due  notice  must  be  given  of  the  intention  to  appeal.  See 
Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sec.  3,  5. — 6.  On  the  failure  of  the  inferior  judi 
catory  to  send  up  their  records  and  copies  of  the  testimony,  the  appeal  was  sus 
tained. — 7.  An  appeal  postponed,  where  the  appellant  failed  to  give  notice. — 
8.  The  case  may  be  postponed  at  the  instance  of  the  appellant. — 9.  May  an 
appeal  be  carried  over  the  next  higher  court  1  Various  decisions ;  general 
principle. — 10.  The  best  evidence  which  the  case  admits  of  required,  and  in  all 
trials  this  is  the  record  of  the  judicatory. — 11.  A  copy  made  by  the  appellant  is 
not  sufficient. — 12.  Neglect  of  the  inferior  judicatory  shall  not  harm  the  appel 
lant. — 13.  Testimony  not  on  record  may  be  received  by  agreement. — 14.  Leave 
refused  to  introduce  testimony  going  to  show  that  the  appellant  has  not  submit 
ted  to  the  sentence  of  the  court. — 15.  An  appeal  arrests  all  further  process 

*  See  p.  196,  e. 
14 


210  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

until  it  is  issued  ;  16.  But  does  not  arrest  the  sentence,  where  the  delay  is  asked 
for  by  the  appellant. — 17.  Who  may  sit  in  the  trial  of  an  appeal?  No  one  who 
was  a  member  of  the  judicature  when  the  vote  appealed  from  took  place ;  nor 
one  who  is  interested  in  the  case. — IS.  The  death  of  the  respondent  bars  the 
prosecution  of  an  appeal  by  the  prosecutor. — 19.  An  express  vote  must  be  taken 
in  an  appeal,  and  the  sentence  must  be  definite,  precise,  and  just. — 20.  Irregu 
larities  of  the  inferior  judicatures  censured. — 21.  Appeal  of  George  Sheldon. — 

22.  Appeal  of  Lewis  Tappan.    Appeal  sustained,  and  both  parties  censured. — 

23.  Order  for  issuing  an  appeal. 

1.  "  An  appeal  is  the  removal  of  a  cause  already  decided,  from  an 
inferior  to  a  superior  judicatory,  by  a  party  aggrieved." — Form  of 
Gov.,  chap,  vii,  sec.  3. 

[Prior  to  the  revision  of  the  Constitution  (1820),  no  distinction  was 
made  between  appeals  and  complaints.  The  usual  formula  was,  "  We 
appeal  and  complain/'  Appeals  are  now  limited  to  the  "  parties  ag 
grieved."  "  All  persons  who  have  submitted  to  a  regular  trial  in  an 
inferior,  may  appeal  to  a  higher  judicatory."  Form  of  Gov.,  chap,  vii, 
sec.  3.  "A  complaint  is  a  representation  made  to  a  superior  by  any 
member  or  members  of  an  inferior  judicatory,  or  by  any  other  person  or 
persons,  respecting  a  decision  by  an  inferior  judicatory,  which,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  complainants,  has  been  irregularly  or  unjustly  made." 
Form  of  Gov.,  chap,  vii,  sec.  4.] 

2.    The  Right  to  Appeal  is  limited  to  the  Original  Parties. 

a.  "  The  Judicial  Committee  reported  a  paper,  signed  by  Dr.  Cath- 
cart  and  others,  members  of  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle,  purporting  to  be 
an  appeal  or  complaint  relative  to  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Philadel 
phia.     The  committee  gave  it  as  their  opinion,  that  the  subject  could 
not  be  taken  up  on  the  ground  of  an  appeal,  because  these  persons  were 
not  one  of  the  original  parties  ]  but  that  it  might  be  taken  up  in  the 
character  of  a  complaint. 

11  Resolved,  That  the  consideration  of  this  complaint  be  the  order  of 
the  day  for  next  Tuesday  morning." — Minutes,  1823,  p.  69. 

b.  "The  Judicial  Committee  also  reported  on  judicial  business  No.  8, 
viz.,  the  appeal  of  Dr.  Joshua  L.  Wilson  and  others,  against  a  decision 
of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Beecher,  that  they  have 
examined  the  same,  and  are  of  opinion  that  Dr.  Wilson  and  others  were 
not  a  party  in  the  case,  and  consequently  cannot  constitutionally  appeal; 


APPEALS.  211 

and  recommend  that  they  have  leave  to  withdraw  their  appeal.     This 
report  was  adopted." — Minutes,  1834,  p.  432. 

3.  Limitation  of  Time.      The  Appeal  must  be  Prosecuted  at  the  First 
Meeting  of  the  Superior  Judicatory. 

"Resolved,  That  in  case  of  an  appeal  or  complaint,  entered  in  an  in 
ferior  Judicatory  to  a  superior,  if  the  appellant  or  appellants  do  not 
appear  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  superior  Judicatory,  protest  may  be 
admitted,  at  the  instance  of  the  respondents,  at  the  last  session  of  such 
meeting,  that  the  appeal  is  fallen  from;  and  the  sentence  so  appealed 
from  shall  be  considered  as  final." — Minutes,  1791,  p.  39. 

a.  "  A  protest  was  admitted  in  behalf  of  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas, 
that  an  appeal  of  the  Presbytery  of  Abingdon,  from  a  judgment  of  the 
said  Synod,  October  7,  1790,  was  not  prosecuted,  and  was  therefore 
fallen  from,  and  the  judgment  became  final." — Minutes,  1791,  p.  45. 

1).  "  Rev.  Thomas  B.  Craighead  having  appealed  to  the  General  As 
sembly,  from  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  made  in  the  month  of 
October  last,  by  which  decision  the  said  Synod  directed  the  Presbytery 
of  Transylvania  to  depose  the  said  Thomas  B.  Craighead  from  the  Gospel 
ministry,  which  was  done  accordingly;  and  whereas  the  said  Mr.  Craig- 
head  has  not  prosecuted  his  appeal  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  the 
subscribers,  members  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  have  waited  till  the 
last  day  of  the  session  of  the  Assembly,  to  afford  opportunity  for  the 
prosecution  of  said  appeal,  we  do  therefore  now  protest,  in  our  own  name 
and  on  behalf  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  against  the  future  prosecu 
tion  of  said  appeal,  and  declare  the  sentence  of  the  Synod  to  be  final, 
agreeably  to  a  standing  order  of  the  General  Assembly." 

"The  protest  was  accepted."— Minutes,  1811,  pp.  481,  482. 

c.  [In  1822  the  case  came  up  again,  when  the  following  report  was 
adopted  :] 

"  In  the  year  1811,  an  appeal  from  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Ken 
tucky,  by  T.  B.  Craighead,  accompanied  by  a  letter  from  the  same,  was 
laid  before  the  General  Assembly;  but  Mr.  Craighead  not  appearing  in 
person  to  prosecute  his  appeal,  permission  was  given  by  the  Assembly, 
on  the  last  day  of  their  sessions,  to  the  members  of  the  Synod  of  Ken 
tucky  who  were  present,  to  enter  a  protest  against  the  prosecution  of  the 
aforesaid  appeal  at  any  future  time.  This  was  supposed  to  be  required 
by  a  standing  rule  of  the  Assembly.  The  appeal  of  Mr.  Craighead  was 


212  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

therefore  not  heard,  and  the  sentence  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  was 
rendered  final. 

"  It  moreover  appears,  that  the  General  Assembly  of  the  year  aforesaid, 
having  adopted  the  protest  of  the  members  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky 
as  their  own  act,  did  declare  that  Mr.  Craighead  had  been  deposed, 
whereas  the  decision  of  the  Synod  was  suspension ;  and  although  the 
Synod  did  direct  the  Presbytery  to  which  Mr*.  Craighead  belonged  to 
depose  him,  if  he  did  not,  at  their  next  stated  meeting,  retract  his  errors, 
yet  this  sentence  could  not  have  been  constitutionally  inflicted,  because 
Mr.  Craighead  appealed  from  the  decision  of  Synod,  the  effect  of  which 
was  to  arrest  all  further  proceedings  in  the  case  until  the  appeal  should 
be  tried ;  therefore  the  sentence  of  the  Assembly,  declaring  Mr.  Craig- 
head  deposed,  does  not  accord  with  the  sentence  of  the  Synod,  which 
was  suspension. 

"From  the  above  history  of  facts,  your  committee  are  of  opinion  that 
Mr.  Craighead  has  just  grounds  of  complaint,  in  regard  to  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1811,  in  his  case,  and  that  the  con 
struction  put  on  the  standing  rule  of  the  Assembly  was  not  correct;  for 
personal  attendance  on  the  superior  judicatory  is  not  essential  to  the 
regular  prosecution  of  an  appeal.  Moreover,  the  sentence  of  the  Assem 
bly  being  founded  in  error,  ought  to  be  considered  null  and  void,  arid 
Mr.  Craighead  ought  to  be  considered  as  placed  in  the  same  situation  as 
before  the  decision  took  place,  and  as  possessing  the  right  to  prosecute 
his  appeal  before  this  judicatory." — Minutes,  1822,  pp.  52,  53. 

d.  "  From  the  records  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  it  appeared  that 
Guernsey  G.  Brown  had  appealed  from  a  decision  of  that  body  in  his 
case  to  the  General  Assembly.     As  Mr.  Brown  has  not  appeared  to 
prosecute  his  appeal,  and  the  commissioners  from  the  Synod  of  Ken 
tucky  require  that  his  absence  may,  according  to  a  rule  of  the  Assembly 
on  the  subject,  preclude  him  from  a  future  hearing :  therefore — 

"  Resolved,  That  Guernsey  G.  Brown  be  considered  as  precluded  from 
prosecuting  his  appeal." — Minutes,  1821,  p.  30. 

In  the  absence  of  the  Appellant,  the  Appeal  dismissed,  but  leave  (/ranted 
to  renew  the  Appeal. 

e.  "  The  appeal  of  Dr.  James  Snodgrass  against  a  decision  of  the 
Synod  of  Pittsburg  was  called  up,  and  the  appeal  was  dismissed,  on  the 
ground  that  the  appellant  has  not  appeared,  either  in  person  or  by 
proxy,  to  prosecute  said  appeal. 


APPEALS.  213 

"  The  Assembly,  however,  give  to  Dr.  Snodgrass  the  privilege  of  pro 
secuting  his  appeal  before  the  next  General  Assembly,  if  he  can  then 
show  sufficient  cause  for  its  further  prosecution." — Minutes,  1832,  p. 
376. 

In  the  absence  of  the  Appellant,  the  Appeal  dismissed,  and  Sentence 

affirmed. 

f.  "  Judicial  business  No.  2,  viz.,  the  appeal  of  Benedict  Hobbs  from 
a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  was  taken  up,  and  the  appellant 
not  being  present  to  prosecute  his  appeal,  it  was  dismissed,  and  the 
sentence  of  the  inferior  court  affirmed. 

"  Judicial  business  No.  5,  viz.,  the  appeal  of  Chloe  G-.  Giles  from  a 
decision  of  the  Synod  of  Utica,  was  taken  up,  and  the  appellant  not 
being  present  to  prosecute  her  appeal,  it  was  dismissed,  and  the  sentence 
of  the  inferior  court  affirmed." — Minutes,  1834,  p.  452. 

Personal  attendance  is  not  necessary. 

g.  "The  construction  put,  by  the  Assembly  of  1811,  on  the  standing 
rule  of  the  Assembly  (in  Craighead's  case),  was  not  correct;  for  personal 
attendance  on  the  superior  judicatory  is  not  essential  to  the  regular  pro 
secution  of  an  appeal." — Minutes,  1822,  p.  52. 

4.  The  Appeal  must  be  lodged  with  the  clerk  in  due  time,  i.  e.,  "  On 
the  first  or  second  day  of  the  meeting  of  the  judicatory  appealed  to  next 
ensuing  the  date  of  his  Appeal" — Form  of  Government,  Discipline, 
chap,  vii,  sees.  3,  11. 

a.  "  The  Judicial  Committee  reported  the  appeal  of  R.  Taylor  against 
the  Synod  of  Michigan,  which  was  not  put  into  the  hands  of  the  clerk 
within  the  constitutional  time.     The  appeal  was  therefore  dismissed." — 
Minutes,  1837,  p.  480. 

Ignorance  of  the  Rule  plead. 

b.  "  The  chairman  of  the  Judicial  Committee  stated  to  the  Assembly, 
that  an  appeal  had  been  put  into  his  hands,  from  Duncan  Hamilton  and 
his  wife,  from  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  which  appeal  had 
not  been  reported  to  the  clerk  of  the  house,  and  asked  the  direction  of 


214  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

the  Assembly  in  the  case.  On  inquiry,  it  appeared  this  appeal  was  in 
the  house  in  season ;  and  the  persons  to  whom  it  was  intrusted  were  not 
aware  of  the  constitutional  rule  requiring  that  it  be  lodged  with  the 
clerk. 

"  On  motion,  it  was — 

"Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Assembly,  the  rule  has  vir 
tually  been  complied  with." — Minutes,  1830,  p.  302. 

5.  Due  Notice  must  be  given  of  the  intention  to  Appeal. 

a.  "The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Utica  were  approved,  with  the  fol 
lowing  exceptions : 

"1.  That  the  Synod  issued  an  appeal  from  the  inferior  judicatory, 
when  it  appeared  before  them  that  an  appellant  had  not  given  notice  in 
writing  that  he  should  appeal,  with  his  reasons  assigned  for  appealing,  as 
required  by  the  Book  of  Discipline,  before  the  rising  of  the  judicatory 
appealed  from,  or  within  ten  days  thereafter. 

"  2.  That  the  Synod  violated  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  in 
qualifying  the  members  of  the  inferior  judicatory  to  ascertain  whether 
an  appeal  had  been  given,  when  the  Book  of  Discipline  requires  that 
the  appeal  shall  be  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  moderator ;  and  further, 
that  the  inferior  judicatory  shall  send  authentic  copies  of  all  the  records, 
and  of  all  the  testimony  relating  to  the  matter  of  appeal,  up  to  the  Synod, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  issue  the  appeal,  when  found  to  be  in  order,  and  in 
accordance  with  the  Book  of  Discipline." — Minutes,  1840,  p.  12. 

b.  "  An  appeal  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Bell  from  a  decision  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Geneva,  and  also  an  appeal  of  Mr.  Bell  from  the  decision  of  the  Synod 
of  Geneva,  were  laid  before  the  Assembly  by  the  Judicial  Committee. 
These  appeals  were  both  dismissed  on  account  of  the  judicatories,  from 
whose  decisions  they  had  been  taken,  not  having  received  due  notice 
from  Mr.  Bell  that  he  designed  to  prosecute  them  before  this  Assembly." 
—Minutes,  1821,  p.  25. 

c.  a  The  appeal  of  Mr.  Charles  Yale  from  a  sentence  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Bath,  deposing  him  from  the  Gospel  ministry,  was  taken  up  and  dis 
missed,  because  it  appeared  that  Mr.  Yale  gave  notice  to  said  Presbytery 
that  he  should  appeal  to  the  Synod  of  Geneva  several  days  before  he 
signified  his  desire  to  the  moderator  of  Presbytery  to  appeal  to  the 
General  Assembly."— Minutes,  1826,  p.  187. 

d.  "  The  Judicial  Committee,  to  whom  was  recommitted  the  appeal  of 


APPEALS.  215 

the  Church  of  Bergen,  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted, 
viz.  : 

"  They  recommend  that  said  appeal  be  dismissed,  on  the  ground  that 
the  only  paper  which  appears  to  be  intended  as  an  appeal,  is  without 
date  or  signature,  or  evidence  that  it  was  ever  before  the  Synod  of 
Genesee,  or  lodged  with  the  moderator  of  said  Synod/' — Minutes, 
1830,  p.  292. 

e.  "Resolved,  That  the  appeal  [of  certain  pew-owners  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  Troy]  be  dismissed,  on  the  ground  that  the 
Synod  has  not  had  the  constitutional  notice  of  the  reasons  of  the  appeal." 
—Minutes,  1828,  p.  242. 

6.    On  the  failure  of  the  Inferior  Judicatory  to  send  up  copies  of 
Testimony,  the  Appeal  was  sustained. 

u  The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  minute  on  the  decision  of  the 
Assembly  sustaining  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Pope  Bushnell,  from  a  decision 
of  the  Synod  of  New  York,  affirming  the  decree  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Hudson,  by  which  the  said  Mr.  Bushnell  had  been  suspended  from  the 
privileges  of  the  Church,  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted, 
viz. : 

"  That  the  appellant  having  given  due  notice  that  he  did  appeal, 
appeared  regularly  before  the  Assembly ;  and  that  while  the  Presbytery 
and  Synod  have  sent  up  their  records  in  the  case,  neither  has  forwarded 
to  this  Assembly  an  authentic  copy  of  the  testimony  taken  on  the  trial. 
The  Assembly  did  therefore  decide,  that  Mr.  Bushnell's  appeal  be,  and 
it  hereby  is  sustained,  so  that  he  is  restored  to  all  his  rights  and  privi 
leges  as  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Christ." — Minutes,  1826,  p.  187. 

7.  Postponed  because  of  failure  of  Appellant  to  file  Notice. 

"  The  appeal  of  Mr.  Craighead  from  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Ken 
tucky  was  taken  up,  and  being  read,  it  appeared  on  inquiry  that  the 
Synod  of  Kentucky  was  not  ready  for  trial,  because  Mr.  Craighead  had 
failed  to  give  them  notice  that  he  intended  to  avail  himself  of  the  privi 
lege  granted  by  the  last  Assembly,  by  prosecuting  his  appeal;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  further  consideration  of  this  appeal  be  postponed, 
and  that  Mr.  Craighead  be  informed,  that  if  he  wishes  to  prosecute  his 
appeal  before  the  next  General  Assembly,  he  must  give  notice  of  his 
intention  to  the  Synod  of  Kentucky. 


216  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  and  the  Presbytery  of  Tran 
sylvania,  be  directed,  and  they  hereby  are  directed,  to  send  up  to  the 
next  Assembly  a  copy  of  their  minutes  in  Mr.  Craighead's  case/' — 
Minutes,  1823,  p.  92. 

8.    The  Case  may  be  Postponed  at  the  instance  of  the  Appellant. 

a.  "  The  Judicial  Committee  reported  an  appeal  by  Mr.  James  Taylor, 
from  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg;  and  that  the  communication 
of  Mr.  Taylor  gave  information  that,  by  reason  of  ill  health,  he  was 
unable  to  attend,  to  prosecute  his  appeal  before  the  present  Assembly. 

"Resolved,  That  Mr.  Taylor  have  leave  to  prosecute  his  appeal  before 
the  next  General  Assembly." — Minutes,  1827,  p.  211. 

7;.  "  The  Judicial  Committee  reported  that  a  paper  had  been  put  into 
their  hands,  purporting  to  be  a  request  from  Mr.  C.  H.  Baldwin,  to  the 
moderator  of  the  Assembly,  that  his  appeal  from  a  decision  of  the  Synod 
of  Genesee  be  continued  to  the  next  General  Assembly,  and  offering 
reasons  for  his  failure  to  appear  and  prosecute  it.  It  appears,  from  the 
Form  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sec.  3,  art.  2,  that  his  case  is  regularly 
before  us,  for  reference  to  the  next  General  Assembly,  if  his  excuse  for 
now  failing  to  appear  shall  be  deemed  sufficient/'  [The  request  was 
granted.]— Minutes,  1858,  p.  580. 

9.  May  an  Appeal  l>e  carried  over  to  the  next  higher  Court? 

a.  "  Inasmuch  as  the  request  of  Mr.  Bourne,  to  be  tried  on  an  appeal 
before  the  General  Assembly,  rather  than  the  Synod,  may  be  reasonable  ; 
and,  inasmuch  as  the  words  of  our  Constitution,  viz.,  'The  Assembly 
shall  receive  and  issue  all  appeals  and  references  which  may  be  regularly 
brought  before  them  from  the  inferior  judicatures/  &c.,  have  been  in 
terpreted  favorably  to  such  a  request,  the  G  encral  Assembly  do  order  that 
a  certified  copy  of  the  records  of  the  Lexington  Presbytery,  in  this  case,  be 
duly  made  and  transmitted  to  the  next  Assembly,  unless  the  Synod  of  Vir 
ginia,  to  which  the  Assembly  can  have  no  objection,  shall  have  previ 
ously  received  the  appeal  (but  that  this  constitutional  question,  as  well 
as  the  merits  of  the  case,  shall  remain  open  for  discussion  at  that  time)." 
—Minutes,  1816,  pp.  626,  627. 

1.  "Resolved,  That  the  records  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia  be  approved, 
except  their  censure  of  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington,  for  allowing  an 


APPEALS.  217 

appeal  from  their  decision  directly  to  the  Assembly,  without  noticing  the 
supposed  irregularity  of  such  appeal." — Minutes,  1818,  p.  688. 

c.  [The  "  appeal  and  complaint  of  Lewis  Tappan  from  a  decision  of 
the  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York/'  was  received  and  issued  by  the 
Assembly.] — Minutes,  1839,  p.  11. 

d.  "  The  Committee  on  Overture  No.  7,  viz.,  An  overture  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Baltimore,  in  relation  to  the  practice  of  inferior  judicatories 
in  carrying  appeals  and  complaints  directly  to  the  General  Assembly, 
without  first  bringing  them  to  their  respective  Synods,  made  the  follow 
ing  report,  which  was  adopted,  viz. :  That  the  Constitution  of  our  Church 
is  so  explicit  that  it  requires  no  order  of  the  Assembly  in  relation  to  the 
case  brought  to  view  in  this  overture." — Minutes,  1833,  p.  396. 

[The  principle  which  has  guided  the  Assembly  seems  to  be,  that 
where  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  passing  by  the  next  superior  court, 
the  case  should  go  there.  But  where  good  reasons  are  assigned  for 
carrying  it  directly  to  the  Assembly,  it  will  be  entertained.] 

e.  "  The  Judicial  Committee  reported  two  appeals  of  Samuel  Lowery, 
the  first,  from  a  special  decision  of  the  Session  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Cincinnati;  the  second  from  a  decision  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Miami.     These  appeals  were  dismissed,  because  the  appellant  had  not 
prosecuted  his  appeals  before  the  inferior  judicatories." — Minutes,  1822, 
p.  36. 

f.  "The  Judicial  Committee  made  the  following  report  on  the  complaint 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  against  the  Presbytery  of  Columbia, 
relative  to  the  licensure  of  Mr.  Samuel  Shaffer,  which  was  adopted,  viz. : 
That  it  is  a  desirable  thing  to  prevent  the  unnecessary  accumulation  of 
business  before  the  General  Assembly;  that  no  good  reason  appears 
why  the  Synod  of  Albany,  who  must  be  entirely  competent  to  issue  the 
complaint,  should  be  passed  by,  and  that,  therefore,  in  their  judgment, 
the  matter  ought  to  go  before  that  body." — Minutes,  1828,  p.  237. 

</.  "  The  Judicial  Committee  made  a  report  in  relation  to  the  appeal 
of  Mr.  Matthew  H.  Rice,  from  a  decision  of  the  Presbytery  of  East 
Hanover,  which  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  That  the  appellant  had  leave  to  withdraw  his  appeal  on  the  follow 
ing  ground,  viz.  :  No  reasons  are  assigned  by  the  appellant  for  making 
this  appeal  to  the  General  Assembly  instead  of  the  Synod." — Minutes, 
1830,  p.  298. 

h.  "  The  Judicial  Committee  reported  on  judicial  business  No.  1,  viz. : 
The  appeal  from  the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  of  Otsego,  by  the  Church 


218  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

at  Cooperstown,  that  it  appears  from  the  documents  that  the  appeal  is  made 
by  said  church  immediately  from  Presbytery  to  the  Assembly ;  and  they 
recommend  that  the  appellants  have  leave  to  withdraw  their  appeal,  and 
prosecute  it  before  the  Synod  of  Utica.  This  report  was  adopted." — 
Minutes,  1834,  p.  432. 

i.  "  A  letter  from  several  members  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  the  town  of  Ovid,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  complaining  of  the  con 
duct  of  the  Presbytery  of  Oneida,  in  erecting  another  congregation  in 
their  neighborhood;  also  of  Mr.  Chapman  for  preaching  in  said  congre 
gation,  &c.,  was  received  and  read. 

"  The  Assembly  having  considered  the  same — 

"Resolved,  That  as  the  complainants  have  not  stated  their  grievances 
to  the  Presbytery,  nor  applied  to  it  for  redress,  the  petition  be  returned 
to  them,  and  that  they  be  directed  to  proceed  in  this  case  as  the  Con 
stitution  prescribes/' — Minutes,  1804,  p.  309. 

10.    The  lest  Evidence  which  the  Case  admits  of  required. 

a  This  Assembly  are  of  opinion  that  the  correct  mode  of  proceeding 
for  the  last  General  Assembly  would  have  been  to  have  suspended  a  de 
cision  on  the  appeal,  until  the  records  of  the  inferior  judicatories  should 
have  been  present ;  because  the  rules  in  our  Form  of  Government  pre 
scribe,  that  before  a  judgment  is  given,  all  the  proceedings  of  the  infe 
rior  judicatories  in  the  case  should  be  read,  and  it  is  a  sound  maxim, 
generally  admitted  in  courts  of  justice,  that  the  best  evidence  which  the 
case  admits  of  should  be  required,  which  in  all  trials  is  undoubtedly  the 
record  of  the  judicatory." — Minutes,  1824,  p.  115. 

[Case  of  Samuel  Lowery.] 

11.  A  Copy  made  by  the  Appellant  not  sufficient. 

"  By  '  the  forms  of  process/  Mr.  Bourne  ought  to  be  allowed  copies 
of  the  whole  proceedings  in  his  case,  yet  the  judicatory  appealed  from 
is,  by  the  same  rules,  l  to  send  authentic  copies  of  the  whole  process.' 
His  copy,  therefore,  which  he  says  was  taken  by  himself,  but  is  not 
shown  to  the  Assembly,  is  not  sufficient.  His  affidavit  is  not  required 
by  the  course  of  proceeding  in  this  body,  and  the  three  papers  presented 
by  him  are  not  to  be  considered  as  the  commencement  of  a  cause,  or  the 
entry  of  an  appeal  in  this  judicatory." — Minutes,  1816,  p.  627. 


APPEALS.  219 

12.  Neglect  of  the  Inferior  Court  shall  not  work  harm  to  the  Appellant. 

a.  [Mr.  Bourne  having  brought  in  an  appeal  from  the  Presbytery  of 
Lexington,  and  the  record  not  sent  up,  the  Assembly  say  that]  "  Mr. 
Bourne  shall  not  suffer  any  inconvenience  which  the  Assembly  can  pre 
vent,  on  account  of  any  failures  of  the  inferior  judicatures ;  if  a  default 
should  in  future  appear  on  their  part,  the  evidence  of  such  circumstance 
being  not  as  yet  made  clear  to  this  Assembly." — Minutes,  1816,  p.  627. 

b.  u  The  appellant  having  given  due  notice  that  he  did  appeal,  ap 
peared  regularly  before  the  Assembly ;  and  that  while  the  Presbytery  and 
Synod  have  sent  up  their  records  in  the  case,  neither  has  forwarded  to 
this  Assembly  an  authentic  copy  of  the  testimony  taken  on  the  trial. 
The  Assembly  did,  therefore,  decide  that  Mr.  Bushnell's  appeal  be,  and 
it  hereby  is  sustained,  so  that  he  is  restored  to  all  his  rights  and  privi 
leges  as  a  member  of.  the  Church  of  Christ/' — Minutes,  1826,  p.  187. 

13.    Testimony  not  on  Record  may  l>e  received  by  Consent  of  Parties. 

"  The  following  papers  were  offered  and  ordered  to  be  entered  on  the 
Minutes,  viz. : 

"  I  offer  to  the  Assembly  the  paper  called  '  An  Appendix/  as  the 
records  furnished  by  the  Presbytery  in  my  case,  and  request  that  it  may 
be  read,  as  containing  evidence  which  I  deem  important,  which  was 
before  the  Presbytery,  and  which  was  not  before  the  Synod. 

"ALBERT  BARNES. 

"  The  prosecutor  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Barnes,  and  the  committee  ap 
pointed  by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  to  defend  their  decision  in  the 
same  case,  hereby  agree  to  the  introduction  of  the  document  entitled 
'  An  Appendix/  &c. ;  not,  however,  as  a  part  of  the  records  of  the  in 
ferior  judicatory,  but  as  testimony  adduced  by  the  appellant  to  substan 
tiate  any  statements  which  he  has  made,  or  may  yet  make. 

"  GEORGE  JUNKIN, 
"  S.  G-.  WINCHESTER, 

"  Gr.  W.  MUSGRAVE, 

"  DAVID  McKiNNEY, 

"  Committee  of  Synod  of  Philadelphia. 

"  The  document  called  the  Appendix,  numbered  from  pp.  1  to  58  in 
clusive,  containing  the  trial,  testimony  of  the  parties,  Junkin  and  Barnes, 


220  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

and  final  decision  of  the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  said 
case  of  Junkin  and  Barnes,  was  read/' — Minutes,  1836,  p.  256. 


14.  Leave  refused  the  Respondents  to  introduce  Testimony  going  to 
show  that  the  Appellant  has  not  submitted  to  the  Sentence  of  the 
Court. 

"  During  their  defence  the  question  arose,  Shall  the  respondents  have 
leave,  the  parties  consenting,  to  introduce  evidence  to  show  that  the 
appellant  has  not  submitted  to  the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  ?  Leave  was 
refused."  [Appeal  of  Lewis  Tappan  from  Third  Presbytery  of  New 
York.]— Minutes,  1839,  p.  23. 

15.  An  Appeal  arrests  all  further  Process  until  it  is  issued. 

u  It  moreover  appears,  that  the  General  Assembly  of  the  year  afore 
said,  having  adopted  the  protest  of  the  members  of  the  Synod  of  Ken 
tucky  as  their  own  act,  did  declare  that  Mr.  Craighead  had  been  de 
posed,  whereas  the  decision  of  the  Synod  was  suspension  ;  and  although 
the  Synod  did  direct  the  Presbytery  to  which  Mr.  Craighead  belonged 
to  depose  him,  if  he  did  not,  at  their  next  stated  meeting,  retract  his 
errors  ;  yet  this  sentence  could  not  have  been  constitutionally  inflicted, 
because  Mr.  Craighead  appealed  from  the  decision  of  Synod,  the  effect 
of  which  was  to  arrest  all  further  proceedings  in  the  case  until  the  appeal 
should  be  tried.  Therefore,  the  sentence  of  the  Assembly  declaring 
Mr.  Craighead  deposed,  does  not  accord  with  the  sentence  of  the  Synod, 
which  was  suspension." — Minutes,  1822,  p.  52. 

16.  But  does  not  Arrest  the  Sentence,  where  Delay  is  as7ced  ly  the 

Appellant. 

"  The  Judicial  Committee  reported  that  a  paper  had  been  put  into 
their  hands,  purporting  to  be  a  request  from  Mr.  C.  II.  Baldwin,  to  the 
moderator  of  the  Assembly,  that  his  appeal  from  a  decision  of  the  Synod 
of  Genesee  be  continued  to  the  next  General  Assembly,  and  offering 
reasons  for  his  failure  to  appear  and  prosecute  it.  It  appears  from  the 
Form  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sec.  3,  art.  2,  that  his  case  is  regularly 
before  us  for  reference  to  the  next  General  Assembly,  if  his  excuse  for 
now  failing  to  appear  shall  be  deemed  sufficient. 

"  The  committee  recommend  that  the  Assembly,  in  view  of  the  rea- 


APPEALS.  221 

sons  offered,  and  out  of  a  desire  to  grant  the  appellant  every  reasonable 
indulgence,  continue  bis  case  agreeably  to  his  request;  it  being  under 
stood,  that  the  sentence  of  the  Presbytery  remain  in  full  force  against 
him  till  the  case  be  finally  issued,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
our  Form  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sec.  3,  art.  15." — Minutes,  1858, 
p.  580. 

17.    Who  may  Sit  in  an  Appeal. 

a.  "Resolved,  That  no  minister  belonging  to  the  Synod  of  Philadel 
phia,  nor  elder  who  was  a  member  of  the  judicature  when  the  vote  ap 
pealed   from  took  place,  shall  vote  in  the  decision   thereof    by  this 
Assembly. 

"  The  moderator,  being  a  member  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  with 
drew,  and  Dr.  McKnight  took  the  chair." — Minutes,  1792,  p.  56. 

b.  "  A  question  was  raised  by  Mr.  Cunningham,  an  elder  from  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  not  a  member  of  Synod  at  the  meeting 
at  which  the  case  of  Mr.  Barnes  was  tried  and  issued,  whether  he  has  a 
right  to  vote  in  this  case  in  the  Assembly.     After  some  discussion,  the 
moderator  decided  that  Mr.  Cunningham,  and  any  other  members  of  the 
Assembly  from  that  Synod  similarly  situated,  have  a  right  to  vote  in 
the  Assembly.     From  this  decision  of  the  moderator  an  appeal  was 
taken,  when,  by  a  vote  of  the  Assembly,  the  decision  of  the  moderator 
was  not  sustained,  and  it  was  decided  that  Mr.  Cunningham,  and  others 
similarly  situated,  have  no  right  to  vote  on  the  case  in  the  Assembly." — 
Minutes,  1836,  p.  265. 

"  A  motion  was  made  that  Dr.  Skinner  and  Mr.  Dashiell,  who,  at  the 
time  the  trial  was  commenced  in  the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia, 
were  either  not  dismissed  from  that  body,  or  had  not  yet  connected 
themselves  with  any  other,  though  they  did  not  meet  with  the  Presby 
tery,  and  before  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  were  members  of  other  Pres 
byteries,  should  not  sit  in  judgment  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Barnes.  This 
motion  was  decided  in  the  negative." — Ibid.  266. 

c.  "  The  appeal  of  Mr.  Pope  Bushnell  was  resumed.     The  moderator 
being  a  member  of  the  Synod  appealed  from,  Mr.  Jennings,  the  last 
moderator  present,  took  the  chair." — Minutes,  1826,  p.  184. 

An  Interested  Parti/  should  not  Sit  on  a  Trial. 

d.  "  The  Records  of  the  Synod  of  Genesee  were,  on  recommendation 


222  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

of  the  committee,  approved,  with  the  following  exception  :  Of  a  decision 
of  the  moderator,  recorded  on  page  151,  that  a  member  of  a  Synod,  who 
might  be  interested  in  a  case  under  trial,  cannot  be  challenged ;  which 
decision  is  unconstitutional,  and  ought  to  be  reversed  by  that  Synod." — 
Minutes,  1846,  p.  20. 

18.  The  Death  of  the  Respondent  bars  the  Prosecution  of  an  Appeal  ly 

his  Prosecutor. 

"  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  were  approved,  except  that, 
on  p.  277,  it  appears  that  the  Synod  decided  that  the  death  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Griffith  should  be  no  bar  in  the  way  of  the  prosecution  of  an  appeal 
by  his  prosecutor  from  the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  of  Bedford,  acquit 
ting  Mr.  Griffith."— Minutes,  1833,  p.  400. 


19.   An  express  Vote  must  be  taken  in  an  Appeal,  and  the  Sentence 
must  le  definite,  precise,  and  just. 

"Resolved,  That  inasmuch  as  the  Synod  of  Indiana  did  not  take  an 
express  vote  on  sustaining  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Harney,  and  the  sentence 
on  record  is  vague  and  inconsistent  with  itself,  the  whole  case  be 
remitted  to  the  said  Synod,  with  an  injunction  to  them  to  reconsider  the 
same,  and  pass  a  definite,  precise,  and  just  sentence." — Minutes,  1837, 
p.  480. 

20.  Irregularities  of  the  Inferior  Judicatory  censured. 

a.  "The  Minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Genesee  were  approved,  with  the 
exception  of  an  irregularity,  recorded  on  p.  170,  in  allowing  the  original 
parties  in  a  trial  to  speak  after  a  lower  Judicatory  had  given  the  reasons 
for  their  decision,  which  was  contrary  to  our  Book  of  Discipline." — 
Minutes,  1846,  p.  20. 

b.  "  There  is  no  record  of  calling  the  roll  for  remarks  of  the  mem 
bers,  before  taking  the  vote,  in   the  case  of  an   appeal   by  A.  King." 
[Exceptions  to  records  of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati.] — Minutes,  1849,  p. 
177. 

c.  "On  pp.  215,  224,229  (Records  of  the  Synod  of  Geneva),  relating 
to  certain  appeals,  '  the  nature  of  the  offence  on  which  the  appeals  are 
founded  is  not  specified.'" — Minutes,  1821,  p.  15. 


APPEALS.  223 

21.  Appeal  of  George  Sheldon.     Protest.     Answer  of  the  Assemlly . 

[Mr.  Sheldon  was  deposed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Portage,  on  the  ground 
of  adultery,  in  having  married  a  second  wife  during  the  life  of  his  first 
wife,  from  whom  he  had  obtained  a  divorce  in  the  civil  courts,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  Presbytery  on  other  than  scriptural  grounds.  From 
the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  he  took  an  appeal  to  the  Synod  of  the 
Western  Reserve.  The  Synod  decided  as  follows,  viz. :  "  After  a  full 
and  patient  hearing  of  the  whole  case  of  appeal  by  George  Sheldon  from 
the  Presbytery  of  Portage,  the  Synod  are  constrained  to  believe  that  the 
decision  of  the  Presbytery  was  just ;  and  that  the  Presbytery  conducted 
the  case  with  as  much  order  and  tenderness  as  the  inherent  difficulties 
of  the  case  would  admit. 

"In  view  of  the  whole  case :  'Resolved,  That  the  decision  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Portage  be  sustained/] 

"  The  Assembly  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  appeal  of  the  Rev. 
George  Sheldon. 

"  The  original  parties  having  been  fully  heard,  the  roll  was  called, 
and  opportunity  was-  given  to  the  members  of  the  Assembly  to  express 
their  opinions  on  the  case.  After  which  the  final  vote  was  taken,  and 
the  appeal  was  not  sustained,  nineteen  voting  in  the  affirmative,  and 
fifty-four  in  the  negative. 

"  The  following  protest  was  ordered  to  be  entered  on  the  Minutes : 
We,  the  undersigned,  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  feel  constrained 
to  protest  against  the  decision  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  not  sustain 
ing  the  appeal  of  Mr.  George  Sheldon,  for  the  following  reasons,  viz. : 

"  1.  It  is  shown  by  the  records  in  the  case  that  Mr.  Sheldon  failed 
to  appear  on  the  second  citation,  and  that  the  Presbytery,  instead  of 
immediately  suspending  him  for  contumacy,  according  to  the  rule  of  our 
Discipline,  chap,  v,  sec.  11,  merely  passed  a  vote  of  censure, 'and  pro 
ceeded  not  only  to  take  testimony,  but  to  issue  the  whole  case  upon  its 
merits,  in  the  absence  of  the  accused.  In  allowing  a  judicatory  to  take 
testimony  in  the  absence  of  the  accused,  our  Book  of  Discipline  does 
not  authorize  them  to  try  and  issue  a  case,  but  only  to  take  the  testi 
mony,  in  order  to  preserve  it  on  record,  in  case  the  man  should  repent 
of  his  contumacy  on  a  third  citation,  and  submit  himself  to  trial 

"  The  course  of  the  Presbytery  should  have  been  to  suspend  Mr.  Shel 
don  for  contumacy  on  the  second  citation,  and  then,  when  he  appeared 


224  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

on  a  third  citation,  the  Presbytery  could  have  removed  the  sentence  of 
suspension  for  contumacy,  and  given  him  a  fair  trial. 

"  But,  instead  of  this  course,  the  Presbytery  tried  the  case  during 
Mr.  Sheldon's  absence,  and  found  him  guilty  of  the  charge  on  merely 
ex  parte  testimony.  And  then,  when  Mr.  Sheldon  appeared,  prepared 
with  testimony  in  his  defence,  it  was  not  admitted,  nor  put  on  record. 
He  was  not,  therefore,  tried  according  to  our  Form  of  Government;  and 
any  evidence  adduced  by  him,  touching  his  guilt  or  innocence,  was  en 
tirely  excluded  from  the  record. 

"  All  of  which  is  contrary  to  the  principles  of  our  Form  of  Govern 
ment,  and  to  the  past  decisions  of  the  General  Assembly,  especially  in 
the  case  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Craighead,  of  Kentucky,  A.  D.  1806. 

"2.  In  the  evidence  on  record  before  the  Presbytery,  when  parts  of 
several  letters  of  Mr.  Sheldon  were  given  and  allowed  in  evidence,  the 
Presbytery  should  have  required  the  whole  documents  in  the  case ;  and 
also  when  part  of  the  record  of  the  court  was  admitted,  the  testimony, 
on  the  ground  of  which  the  divorce  was  sought  to  be  obtained,  was  ruled 
out.  And  the  Presbytery  proceeded  upon  these  partial  extracts  to  form 
a  decision,  when  the  whole  document,  if  allowed  in  court,  or  produced 
there,  might  have  given  an  entirely  different  construction  to  the  parts 
read. 

"  All  of  which  is  contrary  to  the  established  legal  principle,  that  the 
best  evidence  to  be  had  should  be  demanded  in  every  case ;  and  that, 
when  parts  of  a  document  touching  any  subject  are  introduced  in  evi 
dence,  the  whole  document  must  be  admitted. 

"3.  So  many  and  great  were  the  irregularities  in  this  assumed  trial 
as  to  enable  the  General  Assembly  to  form  no  proper  judgment  of  the 
real  merits  of  the  case.  And,  on  account  of  these  irregularities,  the 
case  should  have  been  remanded  for  a  new  trial. 

"  On  these  grounds,  we  protest  against  the  action  of  the  General  As 
sembly,  virtually  confirming  the  act  of  deposition  pronounced  against 
Mr.  Sheldon,  as  being  contrary  to  the  former  decisions  of  the  General 
Assembly,  contrary  to  the  established  practice  of  our  judicatory,  contrary 
to  the  personal  rights  of  Mr.  Sheldon,  and  derogatory  to  the  honor  of 
Jesus  Christ,  as  represented  by  his  Church  in  the  highest  judicatory. 
And,  because  we  are  unwilling  to  be  thought  consenting  to  such  action, 
we  here  respectfully  enter  our  solemn  protest,  and  pray  that  it  may  be 
admitted  upon  the  Minutes  of  the  Assembly/' — Minutes,  1858,  pp. 
607,  608. 


APPEALS. 


Answer  of  the  Assembly. 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  answer  the  protest  of  Rev.  H.  A.  Row 
land,  D.D.,  and  others,  presented  a  report,  which  was  adopted,  and  is 
as  follows : 

"  In  answer  to  the  protest  against  the  decision  of  the  Assembly  in  the 
case  of  George  Sheldon,  the  Assembly  make  the  following  statement : 

"  1.  The  action  of  the  Presbytery  in  the  case  was  irregular,  only 
technically,  and  not  in  such  a  sense  as  to  vitiate  the  substantial  justice 
of  the  result.  The  case  had  been  on  trial  during  a  period  of  some  three 
years,  and  ample  opportunity  had  been  given  in  this  period  for  the 
accused  to  defend  himself. 

"  2.  Although  it  is  asserted,  that  only  extracts  from  Mr.  Sheldon's 
letters  were  admitted  in  evidence,  yet  it  appears  that  one  letter,  and  the 
most  important  one,  is  given  in  full;  that  the  extracts  from  the  other 
letters  are  undisputed,  and  that  these  fairly  and  clearly  present  the  truth 
in  the  case. 

"3.  As  to  the  alleged  new  evidence,  it  appears  that  it  was  before  the 
Judicial  Committee  of  the  Presbytery,  and  read  in  full  before  the  Synod, 
and  was  unanimously  decided  by  these  judicatories  to  be  no  ground  for 
reopening  the  case ;  and  it  also  appears,  that  this  testimony  is  wholly 
irreconcilable  with  statements  made  by  Mr.  Sheldon  in  the  letters  above 
referred  to. 

"4.  Inasmuch  as  the  Assembly,  after  a  full  hearing  of  the  case,  by  a 
vote  of  more  than  two-thirds,  decided  that  there  have  been  no  material 
deviations  from  the  rules  of  the  Book  of  Discipline  for  conducting  judi 
cial  cases,  it  is  deemed  unnecessary,  at  this  late  hour  of  their  sessions, 
to  reply  further  to  the  allegations  of  the  protestants." — Minutes,  1858, 
p.  609. 

22.  An  Appeal  directly  to  the  Assembly  allowed. 

"  Dr.  Fisher,  from  the  Judicial  Committee,  reported  the  appeal  and 
complaint  of  Lewis  Tappan  against  the  decision  of  the  Third  Presbytery 
of  New  York,  as  in  order.  The  report  was  accepted,  and  the  subject 
was  taken  up  for  consideration.  A  motion  was  made  to  send  it  down  to 
the  Synod,  for  adjudication. — Minutes,  1839,  p.  13. 

"  The  consideration  of  Mr.  Rowland's  motion  to  refer  to  the  Synod 
of  New  York,  the  adjudication  of  the  appeal  of  Lewis  Tappan,  was  taken 

15 


226  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

up.     The  motion  to  refer  the  case  to  Synod  was  lost.     The  Assembly 
then  decided  to  hear  the  case." — Minutes,  1839,  p.  13. 

The  Decision  Sustaining  the  Appeal,  and  Censuring  loth  the  Appellant 
and  the  Courts  below ;  Case  of  Lewis  Tappan. 

li  Resolved,  That,  in  view  of  the  whole  case,  the  Assembly,  while  they 
sustain  the  appeal,  and  cannot  pass  without  censure  some  of  the  acts  of 
the  courts  below,  are  constrained  to  rule  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  1.  That  the  act  of  the  Session,  excluding  the  stenographer,  even  if 
it  were  within  the  ultimate  prerogatives  of  the  court,  was  of  very 
questionable  wisdom,  as  well  as  of  dangerous  precedent,  in  reference  to 
the  rights  of  respondents  at  their  bar. 

"  2.  That  there  seems  to  have  been,  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Session, 
too  much  precipitation  and  absoluteness,  and  too  little  of  that  calm  and 
practical  vindication  of  their  own  dignity,  which  mildness  and  forbear 
ance,  in  the  spirit  of  our  Master,  are  largejy  necessary  to  inspire ;  and 
this  especially  in  reference  to  the  sentence  they  pronounced. 

"3.  That  the  appellant  seems  in  several  respects  to  have  manifested 
a  resolute  opposition  to  the  court  of  the  first  resort,  which  certainly,  as 
a  whole,  amounts  to  contumacy ;  though  we  are  not  disposed  to  graduate 
it  as  flagrant  or  unmingled,  or  in  circumstances  of  no  severe  probation. 

"  4.  The  Assembly  therefore  decide  in  the  premises,  that  the  sentence 
of  the  Session,  suspending  the  appellant,  be,  and  it  hereby  is  reversed, 
as  also  the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  confirming  that  of  the  Session. 

ub.  That  the  appellant  be  advised  to  review  his  conduct,  in  the  spirit 
of  solemn  and  faithful  self-examination;  and  henceforth  to  order  his 
way  with  more  meekness  and  reverence  of  the .  authority  of  the  great 
Head  of  the  Church,  as  the  Supreme  President  of  all  our  judicatories. 

"  6.  That  all  the  parties,  the  Session  and  the  appellant  in  the  first 
instance,  and  after  that,  if  necessary,  the  Presbytery  with  them,  be  re 
quired  solemnly  and  prayerfully  to  confer  together  in  the  whole  case, 
with  the  sincere  purpose  of  preventing  further  proceedings  and  pacifi- 
cating  all  concerned,  according  to  the  order  and  honor  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ ;  and  that  they  resume  not  their  formal  proceedings  of  trial 
before  the  Session,  unless  or  until  it  is  demonstrated  that  no  other 
measures  can  preventively  avail ;  and  the  Assembly  do  solemnly  and 
affectionately  exhort  all  persons  at  all  connected  with  the  case,  and 
especially  the  parties  themselves,  to  seek  the  things  that  make  for  peace, 


COMPLAINTS.  227 

and  the  things  whereby  one  may  edify  another." — Minutes,  1839,  pp. 
13-25. 


23.  An  Appeal  arrests  all  further  proceedings  in  the  case  until  the 
Appeal  shall  Le  tried. 

[The  Synod  of  Kentucky  directed]  "  the  Presbytery  to  which  Mr. 
Craighead  belonged  to  depose  him,  if  he  did  not  at  their  next 'meeting 
retract  his  errors ;  yet  this  sentence  could  not  have  been  constitutionally 
inflicted,  because  Mr.  Craighead  appealed  from  the  decision  of  the  Synod, 
the  eiFect  of  which  was  to  arrest  all  further  proceedings  in  the  case  until 
the  appeal  should  be  tried." — Minutes,  1822,  p.  52. 

24.    Order  for  Issuing  an  Appeal. 

a.  a  The  order  of  the  day,  viz.,  an  appeal  by  William  H.  Shumway 
from  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Utica,  confirming  a  decision  by  which 
he  was  suspended  from  the  church  of  Watertown,  was  taken  up. 

"  The  sentence  appealed  from,  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  appellant 
for  his  appeal,  the  whole  record  of  the  proceedings  of  the  inferior  ju- 
dicatories  in  the  case,  including  all  the  testimony,  and  the  reasons  of 
their  decision,  were  read.  The  parties  were  then  heard,  and  the  roll 
called,  to  give  every  member  an  opportunity  to  express  his  opinion; 
after  which  the  final  vote  was  taken,  by  which  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Shum 
way  was  dismissed,  and  the  sentence  of  the  Session  affirmed." — Minutes, 
1835,  p.  488. 

b.  "The  moderator  read  the  rule,  enjoining  on  the  members  to  recol 
lect  and  regard  their  high  character,  as  judges  of  a  court  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  solemn  duty  in  which  they  were  about  to  act. 

"  The  sentence  appealed  from,  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  appellant 
for  his  appeal,  and  which  were  on  record,  and  the  proceedings  of  the 
inferior  judicatories  in  the  case,  including  the  testimony,  and  the  rea 
sons  of  the  Presbytery  for  their  decision,  were  read.  The  original  par 
ties  were  then  heard;  first  Mr.  Tappan,  the  appellant,  and  then  the 
Presbytery  in  defence.  The  Presbytery  having  finished  their  defence, 
Mr.  Tappan  replied,  and  the  Presbytery  made  some  explanations.  The 
parties  having  been  fully  heard,  were  considered  as  withdrawn.  The 
roll  was  called,  and  the  following  adopted  as  the  decision  in  the  case." 
[See  ante,  p.  226.]— Minutes,  1839,  pp.  17-25. 


228  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 


SECTION  3. — OF  COMPLAINTS. 

1.  Distinction  between  a  complaint  and  an  appeal  must  be  observed. — 2.  The 
complaint  should  be  carried  to  the  next  superior  court,  unless  valid  reason  be 
shown  for  a  different  course. — 3.  Complaint  dismissed,  for  want  of  evidence  of 
the  complaint  itself;  also  for  want  of  evidence  that  notice  was  given  of  the  in 
tent  to  complain. — 4.  Through  failure  of  the  prosecutor  to  appear  in  person, 
or  by  proxy. — 5.  On  account  of  informality. — G.  After  conference  with  the 
parties. — 7.  In  the  absence  of  the  records. — Postponed  for  the  same  cause. — 8. 
Complaint  sustained  for  reasons  assigned. — 9.  Referred  back  by  consent  of 
parties. — 10.  Referred  to  the  court  below,  with  instructions. — 11.  Judgment  of 
a  Synod  reversed,  because  they  decline  the  merits  of  the  case ;  because  they  do 
not  adhere  to  the  rules ;  because  they  do  not  distinguish  their  appellate  and 
original  jurisdiction;  and  because  they  restore  the  appellant,  without  any  evi 
dence  of  repentance. — 12.  The  superior  court  may  reverse,  either  in  whole  or 
in  part,  but  must  observe  the  rules  of  Discipline. — 13.  The  nature  of  the  com 
plaint,  and  the  grounds  on  which  it  is  issued,  should  be  stated  in  the  record. — 
14.  A  complaint  against  a  Synod  for  dissolving  a  Presbytery  sustained,  and  the 
Presbytery  restored. — 15.  A  complaint  may  be  issued  in  the  absence  of  the 
complainant. — 10.  A  complaint  must  be  specific. — 17.  The  record  must  state 
that  the  minutes  in  the  case  have  been  read. — 18.  Advice  given  by  a  judicatory 
is  not  a  ground  of  complaint. — 19.  The  discussions  must  not  involve  the  cha 
racter  of  a  party  in  his  absence ;  regularity  of  proceedings  only  to  be  inquired 
into. — 20.  Order  of  issuing  a  complaint. 

[For  the  distinction  between  an  appeal  and  a  complaint,  see  under 
"  Appeal/'  p.  210,  as  also  for  the  limitation  of  time  within  which  a 
complaint  may  be  laid.] 

1.    The  Distinction  between  an  Appeal  and  a  Complaint  should  be 

observed. 

"  The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Utica  were,  on  the  recommendation  of 
the  committee,  approved,  with  the  exception  that,  on  page  275,  the 
Synod  recognizes  a  reference  to  them  as  an  appeal,  which  should  have 
been  considered  and  acted  on  merely  as  a  complaint  against,  and  not 
as  an  appeal  from  the  decision  of  Presbytery  concerning  the  settlement 
of  a  pastor." — Minutes,  1843,  p.  22. 

2.  A  Complaint  should  be  carried  to  the  next  Superior  Court. 

«• 

a.  "The  complaint  of  John  Cochran  against  a  decision  of  the  Session 
of  the  Eighth  Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelphia,  which  was  dismissed 


COMPLAINTS.  229 

by  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  as  irrelevant. and  unfounded,  appears 
to  have  been  regularly  conducted,  except  that  it  is  brought  directly  to 
the  Assembly  from  the  Presbytery,  instead  of  being  carried  first  to  the 
Synod ;  and  no  reasons  are  assigned  for  this  course.  Your  committee 
would  therefore  recommend  that  this  case  be  sent  to  the  Synod  for  ad 
judication,  should  Mr.  Cochran  choose  to  prosecute  his  complaint." 
Adopted.— Minutes,  1833,  p.  409. 

~b.  [Members  of  a  church  complain  of  the  conduct  of  a  Presbytery. 
Complaint  dismissed]  because  "  complainants  have  not  stated  their 
grievances  to  the  Presbytery,  nor  applied  to  it  for  redress." — Minutes, 
1804,  p.  309. 

c.  [The  Session  of  a  church  present  a  paper,  in  a  case  acted  upon  and 
decided  by  a  Synod.  Complaint  dismissed]  because — 

"1.  This  memorial  is,  in  fact,  a  complaint  against  the  decision  of  the 
Synod  of  Iowa ;  and  it  does  not  appear  that  any  notice  of  intention  to 
complain  to  the  Assembly  was  given  to  the  Synod  by  the  complainants. 

11  2.  No  evidence  has  been  presented  by  the  complainants  of  the  in 
justice  of  the  decision  of  the  Synod. 

"  The  committee  therefore  recommend  that  the  paper  be  returned  to 
the  complainants. 

"The  report  was  adopted." — Minutes,  1855,  p.  16. 

3.    Complaint  Dismissed,  for  want  of  Evidence  of  the  Complaint  itself. 

a.  u  The  Judicial  Committee  reported  on  the  paper  purporting  to  be 
a  complaint  of  a  minority  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  against  the  pro 
ceedings  of  said  Synod  in  the  case  of  Dr.  A.  Smith,  and  recommended 
that  the  paper  be  returned  for  want  of  evidence  of  the  complaint  itself. 
This  report  was  adopted."— Minutes,  1831,  p.  339. 

&.  [Complainant  had  leave  to  withdraw]  "  because  there  is  no  evi 
dence  that  notice  of  said  complaint  was  given  to  Synod." — Minutes, 
1834,  p.  434. 

c.  "  The  Judicial  Committee  reported,  that  the  complaint  of  E.  W. 
Gilbert  and  others,  in  relation  to  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  for  dissolv 
ing  the  church  at  Newark;  also,  the  complaint  of  E.  W.  Gilbert  and 
others,  against  the  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  dissolving  the 
Presbytery  of  "Wilmington ;  and  also,  the  complaint  of  St.  George's 
Church  against  the  same  Synod,  for  dissolving  the  Presbytery  of  Wil 
mington,  are  informal,  there  being  no  evidence  before  the  committee 


230  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

that  due  notice  of  said. complaints  was  given  to  the  Synod  of  Philadel 
phia.     This  report  was  laid  on  the  table. " — Minutes,  1836,  p.  252. 

"The  Judicial  Committee  reported  in  relation  to  the  complaint  of 
E.  W.  Gilbert  and  J.  W.  Pickands,  on  behalf  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Wilmington,  against  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  for  dissolving  said 
Presbytery,  accompanied  with  a  petition  for  their  restoration,  that  since 
their  last  report,  which  was  laid  on  the  table,  they  had  received  satis 
factory  evidence  that  due  notice  of  said  complaint  was  given  to  the 
moderator  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  and  that  therefore  the  com 
plaint  is  in  order." — Minutes,  1836,  p.  274. 

4.  Dismissed  through  Failure  of  the  Prosecutor, 

a.  li  The  complaint  of  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Davis,  against  a  decision  of 
the  Synod  of  Utica,  was  taken  up,  and  dismissed  on  the  ground  that  the 
complainant  has  not  appeared  to  prosecute  his  complaint,  nor  any  other 
person  in  his  behalf." — Minutes,  1834,  p.  454. 

b.  "  The  complaints  of  Rev.  G.  Duffield  and  W.  R.  Dewitt  were  dis 
missed  on  the  ground  that  neither  the  complainants  themselves,  nor  any 
person  in  their  behalf,  are  present  to  prosecute  those  complaints. "- 
Minutes,  1835,  p.  490. 

5.  Dismissed  on  account  of  Informality. 

"The  subject  of  the  complaint  of  the  Session  of  Indianapolis  was 
taken  up,  and  after  considerable  discussion  and  mature  deliberation,  it 
was — 

"  Resolved,  That  this  business  be  dismissed  on  account  of  informality, 
and  that  the  papers  be  returned  to  the  respective  parties." — Minutes, 
1829,  p.  269. 

6.  After  Conference  with  Complainants,  leave  given  to  withdraw. 

11  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  complaint  of  the  Second 
Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  against  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  and  also 
the  complaint  of  Robert  Cathcart,  George  Duffield,  and  E.  W.  Gilbert, 
against  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia;  also  the  complaint  of  E.  W.  Gilbert, 
in  behalf  of  himself  and  the  Hanover  Street  Church  of  Wilmington, 
Delaware,  against  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia ;  and  also  the  remonstrance 
and  petition  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia;  and  also  the  remonstrance  of 


COMPLAINTS.  231 

the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  both  against  proceedings  of  the  last 
General  Assembly  in  relation  to  the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia ; 
together  with  the  complaint  of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati  on  the  same 
subject,  reported  that  they  have  had  an  interview  with  several  members 
of  the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  and  subsequently  with  the 
Presbytery  itself,  on  the  subject  of  their  complaint  against  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia ;  and  that  they  have  also  had  an  interview  with  thirty-one 
members  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  assembled  at  the  request  of  the 
committee ;  that  after  a  free  conference  with  both  these  parties,  during 
which  the  subject  of  their  conference  was  treated  with  much  tenderness 
and  Christian  affection,  the  committee  are  enabled  to  recommend  to  the 
Assembly  the  following  resolution,  viz. : 

11  Resolved,  That  the  complainants  in  these  cases  have  leave  to  with 
draw  their  complaints,  and  that  the  consideration  of  all  the  other  papers 
relating  to  the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  be  indefinitely  post 
poned."—  Minutes,  1833,  p.  399. 

7-  Complaint  dismissed  in  the  absence  of  Records. 

"  The  Assembly  took  up  the  complaint  of  the  Presbytery  of  Missouri 
against  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Charles,  laid  over  by  the  last  Assembly, 
and  the  records  of  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Charles  not  being  present — 

"Resolved,  That  the  complaint  be  dismissed." — Minutes,  1837,  p. 
429. 

Postponed  for  the  same  Cause. 

u  The  Assembly  took  up  the  appeal  and  complaint  of  the  church  of 
St.  Charles  against  the  Synod  of  Missouri,  laid  over  by  the  last  Assem 
bly.  The  church  appeared,  and  was  ready  for  trial,  but  the  records  of 
the  Synod  not  being  present,  the  appeal  was  postponed,  and  it  was  or 
dered  that  the  Synod  of  Missouri  send  up  their  records  to  the  next 
General  Assembly/' — Minutes,  1837,  p.  429. 

8.  Complaint  sustained  for  Reasons  assigned. 

"Judicial  business  No.  12,  viz.,  A  complaint  of  Daniel  Hayden  and 
others  against  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  in  the  case  of  the 
Rev.  George  Beecher,  was  taken  up. 

"Resolved,  That  the  complaint  of  the  minority  against  the  majority  of 


232  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

the  Synod  of  Cincinnati  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  sustained,  on  the 
ground  that  the  Synod  was,  and  is,  competent  to  receive  and  examine 
witnesses  called  before  them  to  support  or  to  rebut  the  charges  preferred 
by  the  minority  of  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati  against  the  majority  of 
said  Presbytery."— Minutes,  1834,  p.  453. 

9.  Referred  bac7v  by  consent  of  Parties. 

"  Judicial  business  No.  9,  reported  by  the  Judicial  Committee,  viz., 
the  complaint  of  Alexander  M.  Cowan  against  the  Synod  of  Utica,  was 
taken  up  and  the  complaint  read,  when,  with  the  consent  of  Mr.  Cowan 
and  the  members  of  the  Synod  present,  it  was — 

"Resolved,  That  the  subject  be  referred  back  to  the  Synod  of  Utica; 
and  they  are  hereby  directed  to  issue  the  case  as  referred  to  them  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Otsego.'7— Minutes,  1834,  p.  434. 

10.   Referred  Lack  to  the  Court  lelow  with  Instructions. 

"Whereas,  It  appears  that  the  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Missouri,  in 
the  case  of  the  complaint  of  Franklin  Knox,  has  been  recorded  in  reso 
lutions,  which  set  forth,  not  the  reasons  for  the  decision  in  the  case,  but 
which  are,  in  fact,  a  compromise ;  which  also  admit  that,  at  most,  there 
is  a  strong  presumption  of  guilt,  but  not  evidence,  agreeably  to  the  Con 
stitution,  sufficient  to  convict ;  therefore — 

"Resolved,  That  the  complaint  of  Franklin  Knox  against  the  Synod 
of  Missouri  be  referred  back  to  the  lower  judicatory,  and  that  the  Synod 
be  and  hereby  is  instructed  to  reconsider  said  resolutions,  and  record 
their  decision  agreeably  to  the  evidence  and  the  principles  of  justice 
recognized  in  our  Constitution." — Minutes,  1852,  p.  173. 

11.  Judgment  of  Synod  reversed. 

"  On  the  complaint  of  Mr.  William  H.  Eeecher  and  others  against 
the  Synod  of  Genesee,  in  the  case  of  the  appeal  of  Dr.  Frank  from  the 
decision  of  the  Presbytery  of  Genesee,  the  General  Assembly  sustain 
the  complaint  and  reverse  the  judgment  of  the  Synod  on  the  following 
grounds,  viz. : 

"  1.  That  the  merits  of  the  case  seem  to  be  expressly  declined  by  the 
Synod  as  the  subject-matter  of  adjudication. 


COMPLAINTS.  233 

"2.  That  the  Synod  appear  not  to  have  adhered  to  the  alternatives 
prescribed  by  the  Constitution.  (See  Book  of  Discipline,  chap.  vii,  sec. 
3,  subsection  10.) 

"3.  That  the  Synod  seem  to  have  forgotten  the  nature  and  the  limits 
of  their  appellate,  as  distinguished  from  the  original  jurisdiction  in  the 
case ;  in  that  they  censure  at  their  bar  the  appellant  in  a  way  competent, 
in  any  circumstances,  only  to  the  Session  of  the  church  to  which  the 
appellant  was  primarily  amenable. 

"  4.  That  they  seem  to  have  forgotten  also,  in  restoring  the  appellant, 
that  some  expression  of  repentance  ought  to  have  been  exacted,  espe 
cially  if  their  reprimand  could,  from  any  tribunal,  have  been  deserved. 

"  The  Assembly  therefore  rule,  that  the  Synod  of  Genesee  should 
review  their  proceedings  in  this  case ;  and,  regarding  alike  the  rules  of 
the  Constitution  and  the  merits  of  the  case,  that  they  proceed  to  issue 
the  same  with  equity  and  wisdom. 

"  In  the  matter  of  defining  in  what  calumny  consists,  as  connected 
with  the  case,  the  Assembly  feel  it  not  necessary  to  express  any  opinion 
farther  than  to  recommend  the  principles  of  our  constitutional  discipline." 
—Minutes,  1840,  p.  11. 

12.  The  Superior  Court  has  a  Right  to  Reverse  either  in  luhole  or  in 

part,  but  must  observe  the  Principles  of  Discipline. 

"  The  Assembly  having  heard  the  complaint  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Carlisle  against  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  case  of  William  S. 
McDowell,  with  the  facts  and  arguments  offered  both  by  the  Presbytery 
and  the  Synod,  judged  that  the  Synod  had  a  constitutional  right  to  re 
verse  the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  in  the  case,  either  in  whole  or  in 
part,  as  to  them  might  seem  proper ;  but  that  in  the  exercise  of  this 
right,  the  Synod  have  not  duly  regarded  the  principles  of  discipline  pre 
scribed  in  the  Constitution ;  inasmuch  as  it  appears  by  their  records 
that  they  have  removed  all  censure  from  a  man  whom  they  declare  to 
be  deserving  of  rebuke,  without  directing  that  rebuke  to  be  adminis 
tered,  and  without  receiving  any  evidence  of  his  penitence." — Minutes, 
1823,  p.  81. 

13.  The  Nature  of  the  Complaint,  and  the   Grounds  on  which  it  is 
sustained,  when  it  reverses  the  Action  of  the  Court  below,  should  be 
stated. 

On  p.  571  (Minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Geneva),  *a  complaint  against 


234  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 

a  decision  of  a  Presbytery,  which  is  not  named,  is  there  represented  as 
having  been   sustained,  and  the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  reversed, 
without  stating  the  nature  of  the   complaint,  or  the   grounds   of  the 
Synod's  reversal.    This  your  committee  regard  as  a  defective  minute. "- 
Minutes,  1835,  p.  475. 

14.  A  Complaint  against  a  Synod  for  Dissolving  a  Preslytery  sustained, 
and  the  Act  of  the  Synod  reversed. 

"  The  Assembly  took  up  the  complaint  of  Mr.  Gilbert  and  Mr.  Pick- 
ands,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  other  members  of  the  late  Presbytery 
of  Wilmington,  against  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  for  dissolving  them, 
and  a  petition  to  be  restored  to  their  former  state,  as  a  Presbytery. 

(l  The  sentence  complained  of,  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  complain 
ants  for  their  complaint,  and  the  whole  record  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Synod  in  the  case,  were  read.  The  complainants  were  then  heard  by 
Mr.  Duffield,  who,  by  their  request,  appeared  in  their  behalf,  and  the 
Synod,  in  explanation  of  their  decision.  After  which,  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  the  complaint  be  sustained,  and  the  petition 
granted;  and  the  Presbytery  are  hereby  restored  to  the  state  in  which 
they  were  at  the  time  of  their  organization  by  the  Synod, — except  that 
the  church  of  New  Castle,  if  they  desire  it,  shall  have  the  privilege  of 
uniting  with  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle." — Minutes,  1836,  p.  279. 

15.  A  Complaint  Issued  in  the  Absence  of  the  Complainants. 

"  The  Assembly  took  up  the  complaint  against  the  Synod  of  Virginia, 
by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Houston  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  B.  Wilson,  reported 
by  the  Judicial  Committee.  The  complainants  did  not  appear,  but  a 
written  communication,  containing  the  reasons  of  their  complaint,  was 
laid  before  the  Assembly.  At  the  request  of  the  complainants,  Mr. 
Weed  was  appointed  to  manage  their  cause  in  their  absence/' — Minutes, 
1827,  p.  210. 

16.  A  Complaint  must  be  Specific. 

u  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  memorial  from  the  Synod 
of  West  Tennessee  complaining  of  the  Assembly  of  1826,  because  they 
admitted  the  verbal  testimony  of  a  delegate  to  set  aside  a  written  docu- 


COMPLAINTS.  235 

rnent  from  the  Synod  of  Tennessee,  and  on  that  account,  in  dividing  the 
Synod,  granted  them  only  a  part  of  their  request  j  complaining  also  of 
the  privilege  granted  by  the  Assembly  to  the  missionaries  among  the 
Cherokees,  as  found  in  the  printed  Minutes  of  1826,  pages  21,  24,  and 
27,  and  requesting  that  the  privilege  there  referred  to  may  be  rescinded, 
made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"  That  it  does  not  appear,  either  from  'the  Minutes  of  the  Assembly, 
or  from  the  memorial,  what  part,  if  any,  of  the  request  of  the  Synod  of 
Tennessee  was  refused  to  be  granted.  The  Assembly,  therefore,  can 
grant  no  relief  till  the  grievance  be  specified  and  understood." — Minutes, 
1828,  p.  24G. 

17.    The  Records  must  state  that  the  Minutes  in  the  Case  have  been  read. 

"  In  the  case  of  a  complaint  against  the  decision  of  a  Presbytery,  no 
evidence  appears  that  the  records  of  the  Presbytery  were  read/' 

[Exceptions  to  Records,  Synod  of  Indiana.] — Minutes,  1887,  p.  480. 

18.  Advice  not  a  Ground  of  Complaint. 

The  "  complaint  of  members  of  the  Park  Church,  Newark,  New  Jer 
sey,  against  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,"  was  dismissed, 
"on  the  ground  that  the  action  of  the  Presbytery  was  not  a  subject- 
matter  of  complaint,  or  removal  of  the  case  to  a  higher  judicatory,  their 
proceedings  having  been  merely  advisory,  upon  the  memorial  of  the 
complainants." — Minutes,  1852,  p.  166. 

19.    The  Character  of  the  Absent  not  to  be  involved. 

"  The  following  report  of  the  Judicial  Committee,  in  the  case  of  the 
complaint  of  members  of  the  Carlisle  Presbytery  against  the  decision 
of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  was  received,  which,  being  read,  was 
adopted. 

"Resolved,  1.  That  no  discussion  ought  to  be  allowed  which  may  in 
volve  the  character  of  Mr.  McDowell,  in  his  absence. 

"2.  That  the  complaint  ought  to  be  considered  by  the  Assembly, 
only  so  far  as  it  regards  the  regularity  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Synod 
in  reversing  the  judgment  of  Presbytery  in  the  case." — Minutes,  1823, 
p.  74. 


236  VI. — DISCIPLINE. 


20.  Mode  of  Issuing  a  Complaint. 

"  The  Judicial  Committee  reported  as  being  in  order,  a  complaint  of 
the  Rev.  Thompson  Bird,  in  behalf  of  the  Presbytery  of  Des  Moines, 
against  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Iowa,  in  the  case  of  Rev.  James  H. 
Shields,  who  had  been  deposed  by  the  Presbytery,  for  marriage  with  a 
woman  divorced,  as  alleged,  for  insufficient  grounds, 'and  whom  the 
Synod  had  restored.  They  recommend  that  it  be  taken  up,  and  issued ; 
and  that  in  doing  this  the  following  order  be  observed : 

"1.  That  the  action  of  the  Synod  complained  of  be  read. 

"  2.  The  reasons  of  the  complaint. 

"3.  The  action  of  the  Synod  in  the  case. 

"  4.  The  doings  of  the  Presbytery,  including  all  the  testimony  on 
which  the  action  of  the  Synod  was  based. 

"5.  That  the  original  parties  then  be  heard;  first,  the  complainant, 
and  then  the  Synod. 

"  6.  That  any  of  the  members  of  the  inferior  judicatory  be  heard  in 
explanation  of  the  grounds  of  their  decision,  or  dissent  from  it." — 
Minutes,  1858,  p.  580. 


CHAPTEK  VII. 

MORAL   QUESTIONS. 
SECTION  1. — ON  MARRIAGE. 

1.  Marriage  with  a  brother's  widow  declared  incestuous,  and  the  parties  debarred 
communion  while  living  together.  A  similar  case  referred  to  the  discretion  of 
the  Session. — 2.  With  a  wife's  sister.  The  offender  restored,  but  such  marriages 
condemned.  Proposal  for  a  change  of  the  Confession  negatived. — 3.  Marriage 
of  the  relicts  of  a  brother  and  sister  not  incestuous. — 4.  With  a  wife's  brother's 
daughter  to  be  censured,  but  the  parties  not  to  be  excluded  from  the  Church. — 
5.  With  a  niece,  referred  to  the  lower  judicatories.  Declared  incestuous,  and 
to  demand  judicial  action. — 6.  Marriage  engagements  may  be  dissolved  by  con 
sent  of  parties,  but  hasty  engagements  are  to  be  censured. — 7.  Clandestine  mar 
riages  discountenanced. — 8.  Publication  of  purpose  of  marriage.  The  Presby 
teries  to  judge. — 9.  A  bigamist  not  to  be  received  to  the  Church.  Wilful  and 
obstinate  desertion  a  lawful  cause  of  divorce.  If  just  cause  of  divorce  exist,  and 
divorce  be  refused  him,  he  may  be  received  to  the  Church,  but  only  with  great 
caution. — 10.  Marriage  with  a  woman  divorced  on  grounds  not  recognized  by 
the  Book,  declared  to  be  adultery,  and  the  offender  deposed  from  the  ministry 
and  excommunicated. — 1 1.  A  deposition  for  having  obtained  a  divorce  on  other 
than  scriptural  grounds,  and  marrying  again,  Sustained. 

1.  Marriage  with  a  Brother's  Widow  declared  incestuous. 

a.  "The  affair  of  Andrew  Yan  Dyke,  that  was  referred  from  the 
Presbytery  of  New  Castle  to  the  Synod,  came  under  consideration,  and 
a  considerable  time  being  spent  in  discoursing  upon  it,  it  was  determined, 
iicmine  contradicente,  that  his  marriage  with  his  brother's  wife  or  widow 
was  incestuous  and  unlawful,  and  their  living  together  as  the  consequence 
of  that  marriage  is  incestuous  and  unlawful ;  and  that  so  long  as  they 
live  together,  they  be  debarred  from  all  sealing  ordinances." — Minutes, 
1717,  p.  50. 


238  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 


A  similar  Case  referred  to  the  Session, 

I.  "  The  appeal  of  Mr.  William  Adams  from  a  decision  of  the  Synod 
of  Pittsburg  was  laid  before  the  Assembly.  The  minutes  of  the  Synod 
respecting  the  case  being  read,  it  appeared  that  the  said  William  Adams 
had  married  his  brother's  widow ;  that  his  case  having  been  brought 
before  the  Presbytery  of  Erie,  the  said  Presbytery  had  pronounced  his 
marriage  unconstitutional,  and  that  the  Synod,  upon  an  appeal,  had 
confirmed  the  judgment  of  the  Presbytery.  From  this  judgment  of  the 
Synod,  Mr.  Adams  appealed  to  the  General  Assembly. 

"The  Assembly,  having  taken  the  subject  into  consideration,  were 
informed  by  some  of  their  members,  who  are  also  members  of  the  Sjmod 
of  Pittsburg,  that  Mr.  Adams's  moral  and  religious  character  is  perfectly 
fair  and  exemplary,  except  in  what  respects  his  marriage,  which  was 
contracted  above  fifteen  years  ago." — Minutes,  1805,  p.  338. 

[The  report  of  the  committee  to  whom  the  appeal  was  referred] 
"  having  been  read  and  amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz.  : 

"Whereas,  Frequent  decisions  on  marriages  of  a  similar  nature  have 
been  given  by  the  late  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  by 
the  General  Assembly ;  and  whereas,  it  appeared  on  these  occasions  that 
while  such  marriages  are  offensive  to  some,  to  others  they  appear  lawful, 
therefore  this  Assembly  consider  the  subject  doubtful  and  delicate, 
and  do  not  think  it  expedient  to  express  any  opinion  on  the  decision  of 
the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  in  the  present  case.  But  in  conformity  to  a 
decision  made  by  last  Assembly  on  a  marriage  somewhat  similar,  this 
General  Assembly  refers  the  case  of  Mr.  Adams  to  the  Session  of  the 
church  of  Rocky  Spring,  or  that  of  any  other  in  which  he  may  be,  and 
leave  it  to  their  discretion  to  act  according  to  their  own  best  light,  and 
the  circumstances  in  which  they  find  themselves  placed." — Minutes, 
1805,  p.  340.— See  p.  243,  c. 


2.  Marriage  icith  a  deceased  Wife's  Sister. 

a.  "  In  the  case  of  a  man's  marrying  two  sisters,  one  after  the  other's 
death,  the  Synod  judge,  "That,  as  the  Levitical  law,  enforced  also  by 
the  civil  laws  of  the  land,  is  the  only  rule  by  which  we  are  to  judge  of 
marriages,  whoever  marry  within  the  degrees  of  consanguinity  and  affinity 
forbidden  therein  act  unlawfully,  and  have  no  right  to  the  distinguishing 


MARRIAGE.  239 

privileges  of  the  Church ;  and  as  the  marriages  in  question  appear  to  be 
within  the  prohibited  degrees,  they  are  to  be  accounted  unlawful,  and 
the  persons  suspended  from  special  communion  while  they  continue  in 
this  relation." — Minutes,  1761,  p.  312. 

I.  "  Anthony  Dushane,  who  has  married  the  sister  of  his  former  wife, 
and  whose  case  has  been  before  the  Synod  for  two  years  past,  preferred 
a  petition  that  he  might  no  longer  be  debarred  the  privileges  of  the 
Church  on  the  account  of  said  marriage. 

"  After  full  and  deliberate  discussion,  the  question  was  put,  '  Shall 
Anthony  Dushane  and  his  wife  be  capable  of  Christian  privileges,  their 
marriage  notwithstanding?'  which  was  carried  in  the  affirmative  by  a 
considerable  majority/'' — Minutes,  1782,  p.  495. 

"  Remonstrances  from  sundry  congregations  were  brought  in  by  the 
Committee  of  Overtures,  requesting  a  reversing  of  the  decision  of  the 
last  Synod,  respecting  the  marriage  of  a  man  with  his  former  wife's 
sister. 

"  The  Synod  having  again  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  judgment 
which  they  passed  last  year  concerning  Anthony  Dushane,  declare  their 
dissatisfaction  with  all  such  marriages  as  are  inconsistent  with  the  Le- 
vitical  law,  and  that  persons  marrying  within  the  degrees  of  consangui 
nity  prohibited  in  that  law,  ought  to  suffer  the  censures  of  the  Church ; 
and  they  further  judge,  that,  although  the  marriage  of  a  man  to  two 
sisters  successively,  viz.,  to  the  one  after  the  death  of  the  other,  may 
not  be  a  direct  violation  of  the  express  words  of  that  law,  yet,  as  it  is 
contrary  to  the  custom  of  the  Protestant  Churches  in  general,  and  an 
evidence  of  great  untenderness  toward  many  serious  and  well-disposed 
Christians,  and  may,  through  the  prejudices  or  generally  received  opi 
nions  of  the  members  of  our  Church,  be  productive  of  very  disagree 
able  consequences;  the  persons  contracting  such  marriages  are  highly 
censurable,  and  the  practice  ought  to  be  disallowed  in  express  terms 
by  the  Synod,  and  we  do  therefore  condemn  such  marriages  as  im 
prudent  and  unseasonable.  Yet  as  some  things  may  be  done  very 
imprudently  and  unseasonably,  which  when  done  ought  not  to  be  an 
nulled,  we  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  the  persons  whom 
this  judgment  respects,  to  separate  from  one  another,  yet  they  should 
not  be  received  into  the  communion  of  the  Church  without  a  solemn 
admonition,  at  the  discretion  of  the  Session  of  the  congregation  to  which 
they  belong  j  and  the  Synod  publicly  recommend  it  to  all  their  members 


240  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

to  abstain  from  celebrating  such  marriages,  and  to  discountenance  them 
by  all  the  proper  means  in  their  power." — Minutes,  1783,  p.  500. 

c.  "  A  reference  from  Bethel  Church,  South  Carolina,  was  overtured, 
requesting  the  decision  of  the  Assembly  in  relation  to  a  case  in  which  a 
person  had  married  the  sister  of  his  deceased  wife. 

"Resolved,  That  this  reference  be  answered  by  the  following  decision 
of  the  Assembly  of  1804."— Minutes,  1810,  p.  456. 
[See  case  of  James  Gaston,  p.  243,  c.] 

Marriage  with  a  Deceased  Wife's  Sister  inexpedient,  unfriendly  to  Do 
mestic  Purity,  and  offensive  to  the  Church,  but  not  undoubtedly 
incestuous. 

d.  "The  following  appeal  was  then  taken  up,  viz.,  the  appeal  of  Wil 
liam  Vance  from  the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  of  Washington,  affirm 
ing  the  judgment  of  the  Session  of  Cross  Creek,  which  pronounces  his 
marriage  with  his  deceased  wife's  sister  to  be  incestuous. 

"  The  committee  to  which  had  been  referred  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Wil 
liam  Vance  from  the  judgment  of  the  church  Session  of  Cross  Creek, 
and  the  judgment  of  the  Presbytery  of  Washington,  Pennsylvania,  by 
which  judgment  Mr.  Vance  had  been  excluded  from  Church  privileges 
on  account  of  his  being  married  to  the  sister  of  his  deceased  wife,  re 
ported,  and  their  report  was  read,  and  the  consideration  and  discussion 
of  it  was  postponed,  to  take  into  consideration  the  following  resolutions, 
which,  after  a  full  discussion,  were  adopted  by  the  Assembly  as  their 
decision  in  the  case,  viz.  : 

"Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  General  Assembly,  the  mar 
riage  of  a  man  to  the  sister  of  his  deceased  wife,  and  all  similar  connec 
tions,  are  highly  inexpedient,  unfriendly  to  domestic  purity,  and  exceed 
ingly  offensive  to  a  large  portion  of  our  churches. 

"Resolved,  That  it  be,  and  it  hereby  is  earnestly  enjoined  upon  the 
ministers,  elders,  and  churches  of  our  communion,  to  take  every  proper 
occasion  to  impress  the  sentiments  contained  in  the  foregoing  resolution 
on  the  public  mind,  and  by  all  suitable  means  to  discourage  connections 
so  unfavorable  in  their  influence  on  the  peace  and  edification  of  the 
Church. 

"  Resolved,  That  while  the  Assembly  adopt  the  opinion,  and  would 
enforce  the  injunction  above  expressed,  they  are  by  no  means  prepared 


MARRIAGE.  241 

to  decide  that  such  marriages  as  that  in  question  are  so  plainly  prohi 
bited  in  Scripture,  and  so  undoubtedly  incestuous,  as  necessarily  to  infer 
the  exclusion  of  those  who  contract  them  from  Church  privileges.  They 
therefore  refer  the  case  of  Mr.  Vance  back  again  to  the  Session  of  the 
church  of  Cross  Creek,  agreeably  to  former  decisions  of  the  General 
Assembly  in  similar  cases,  to  be  disposed  of  in  such  manner  as  the  said 
Session  may  think  most  conducive  to  the  interests  of  religion." — Minutes, 
1821,  pp.  21,  22. 


Proposal  for  a  Change  in  the  Confession  negatived. 

e.  u  The  committee  on  Mr.  McCrimmon's  appeal  from  a  decision  of 
the  Presbytery  of  Fayetteville,  confirming  his  suspension  from  the  com 
munion  of  the  Church  for  having  married  his  deceased  wife's  sister,  re 
ported,  that,  in  their  opinion,  no  relief  can  be  given  to  the  said  Mc- 
Crimmon,  without  an  alteration  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  chap,  xxiv, 
sec.  4,  the  last  clause  of  which  declares,  that  "  the  man  may  not  marry 
any  of  his  wife's  kindred  nearer  in  blood  than  he  may  of  his  own,  nor 
the  woman  of  her  husband's  kindred  nearer  in  blood  than  of  her  own;" 
but  inasmuch  as  a  diversity  of  opinion  and  practice  obtains  on  this  very 
important  subject,  your  committee  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following 
resolution,  viz.  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Presbyteries  be,  and  they  are  hereby  directed  to 
take  this  matter  into  serious  consideration,  and  send  up  in  writing  to  the 
next  General  Assembly  an  answer  to  the  question,  whether  the  above- 
quoted  clause  of  our  confession  shall  be  erased. 

"The  above  report  was  adopted." — Minutes,  1826,  p.  177. 

"  In  regard  to  the  proposed  erasure  of  the  4th  section  of  the  24th 
chapter  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  sixty-eight  Presbyteries  have  re 
ported  ;  fifty  of  them  against  the  erasure,  and  eighteen  in  favor  of  it. 
The  section,  therefore,  is  not  to  be  erased." — Minutes,  1827,  p.  218. 


3.  Where  the  Relicts  of  a  Brother  and  Sister  had  Married. 

"  That  such  a  marriage,  however  inexpedient  it  be,  yet,  as  we  cannot 
find  it  prohibited  by  the  Levitical  law,  is  not  to  be  condemned  as  inces- 
tuous."— Minutes,  1760,  p.  303. 

16 


242  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 


4.    With  a  Wife's  Brother's  Daughter. 

a.  "  After  mature  deliberation,  the  Synod  declare  their  great  dissatis 
faction  with  all  such  marriages  as  are  inconsistent  with  the  Levitical 
law,  which  in  cases  matrimonial  we  understand  is  the  law  of  our  nation, 
and  that  persons  intermarrying  in  these  prohibited  degrees,  are  not  only 
punishable  by  the  laws  of  the  country,  but  ought  to  suffer  the  censures 
of  the  Church ;  and  further  judge,  though  the  present  case  is  not  a 
direct  violation  of  the  express  words  of  the  Levitical  law,  yet  as  it  is 
contrary  to  the  custom  of  Protestant  nations  in  general,  and  an  evidence 
of  great  untenderness,  and  so  opposite  to  such  precepts  of  the  Gospel  as 
require  Christians  to  avoid  things  of  ill  report,  and  all  appearance  of 
evil,  and  what  is  offensive  to  the  Church ;  that  the  person  referred  to  in 
this  instance,  ought  to  be  rebuked  by  the  Church  Session,  and  others 
warned  against  such  offensive  conduct;  and  in  case  these  persons  submit 
to  such  rebuke,  and  are  in  other  respects  regular  professors,  that  they 
be  not  debarred  of  Christian  privilege.'' — Minutes,  1772,  p.  427. 

With  a  Wife's  Half- Brother' s  Daughter. 

I.  t{  A  reference  from  the  Synod  of  Virginia  was  received  through 
the  Committee  of  Overtures,  respecting  a  certain  Charles  Mitchel,  who 
had  married  his  former  wife's  half-brother's  daughter,  requesting  the 
opinion  of  the  Assembly  whether  such  persons  may  be  admitted  to 
Church  privileges.  Whereupon, 

"  Resolved j  That  though  the  Assembly  would  wish  to  discountenance 
imprudent  marriages,  or  such  as  tend  in  any  way  to  give  uneasiness  to 
serious  persons,  yet  it  is  their  opinion,  that  the  marriage  referred  to  is 
not  of  such  a  nature  as  to  render  it  necessary  to  exclude  the  parties  from 
the  privileges  of  the  Church/' — Minutes,  1797,  p.  127. 

5.    With  a  Deceased  Wife's  Sister's  Daughter. 

a.  "  Reference  on  the  petition  of  John  Latham,  who  has  married  his 
deceased  wife's  sister's  daughter,  praying  a  reconsideration  of  his  case, 
which  was  tried  and  issued  against  him,  nine  years  ago,  in  the  Synod  of 
the  Carolinas. 

"  After  mature  deliberation,  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  the  case  of  John  Latham,  referred  for  the  decision 


MARRIAGE.  243 

of  the  General  Assembly,  by  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas,  be  remitted 
to  the  said  Synod,  and  that  they  be  directed  to  review  the  case,  and  if 
they  shall  judge  it  to  be  consistent  with  the  existing  laws  of  the  State 
and  the  peace  of  the  Church,  they  may  admit  the  persons  alluded  to,  to 
its  privileges." — Minutes,  1799,  p.  176. 

Z>.  "  The  Session  of  the  Church  of  Westminster,  in  Jefferson  County, 
State  of  Tennessee,  having  requested  the  direction  of  this  Assembly  in 
a  case  of  discipline,  viz. :  Whether  a  man  and  his  wife  were  admissible 
to  Church  privileges  who  had  been  related  to  each  other  as  uncle  and 
niece ;  that  is  to  say,  the  woman  being  sister's  daughter  to  the  man's 
former  wife,  whereupon  the  Assembly 

"  Resolved,  That  such  marriages  as  that  in  question  have  been  de 
termined  both  by  the  late  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and 
by  the  General  Assembly,  to  be  on  the  one  hand  not  forbidden  by  the 
laws  of  God,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  be  contrary  to  the  general  prac 
tice  of  Protestant  churches,  and  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  many 
serious  Christians  among  ourselves,  and  on  that  account  to  be  discounte 
nanced,  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  when  such  marriages  take  place,  the  Session  of  the 
church  where  they  happen,  are  carefully  to  consider  the  case,  and  if  they 
think  it  expedient,  to  administer  such  discipline,  as  they  may  judge  to 
be  deserved,  for  that  want  of  Christian  tenderness  and  forbearance  that 
are  incumbent  on  all  the  professors  of  our  holy  religion,  or  for  violating 
any  municipal  law,  if  this  has  been  done ;  and  then  to  admit  or  restore 
them  to  good  standing  in  the  Church.  And  if  the  Session  judge  that 
the  state  of  society  is  such  where  these  marriages  take  place,  as  that 
neither  the  duty  of  Christian  tenderness  and  forbearance,  nor  the  laws 
of  the  State  have  been  violated,  they  may  admit  the  persons  concerned 
to  Christian  privileges  without  censure." — Minutes,  1802;  p.  248. 

c.  "  It  appeared  that  a  Mr.  James  Gaston  had  been  censured  as  being 
guilty  of  incest  for  having  married  a  woman  who  was  sister's  daughter 
to  his  former  wife }  and  had  brought  the  cause  by  appeal  to  the  Synod 
of  Pittsburg.  The  Synod,  conceiving  that  the  cause  involved  a  high 
question  of  discipline,  chose  to  refer  it  to  the  General  Assembly  for  their 
decision. 

"The  Assembly  having  given  repeated  decisions  on  similar  cases, 
cannot  advise  to  annul  such  marriages,  or  to  pronounce  them  to  such  a 
degree  unlawful,  as  that  the  parties,  if  otherwise  worthy,  should  be 
debarred  from  the  privileges  of  the  Church.  But  as  great  diversity  of 


244  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

opinion  seems  to  exist  on  such  questions  in  different  parts  of  the  Church, 
so  that  no  absolute  rule  can  be  enjoined  with  regard  to  them  that  shall 
be  universally  binding,  and  consistent  with  the  peace  of  the  Church, 
and  as  the  cases  in  question  are  esteemed  to  be  doubtful,  the  Assembly 
is  constrained  to  leave  it  to  the  discretion  of  the  inferior  judicatories 
under  their  care,  to  act  according  to  their  own  best  lights,  and  the 
circumstances  in  which  they  find  themselves  placed." — Minutes,  1804, 
p.  306. 

d.    With  a  Sister's  DaugUter. 

11  The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures  in  answer  to 
the  two  questions,  '  May  a  man,  in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  the 
Scriptures,  marry  a  daughter  of  his  own  sister  ?'  and  l  When  members 
of  the  Church  have  contracted  such  a  marriage,  may  they  still  retain 
their  standing  in  the  Church  ?'  was  taken  up  for  consideration. 

11 A  motion  was  made  for  indefinite  postponement,  which  was  lost. 

"The  report  of  the  committee  was  postponed;  and  the  following  sub 
stitute,  proposed  by  Rev.  S.  P.  M.  Hastings,  was  adopted  : 

"'Resolved,  1.  That  the  first  question  be  answered  in  the  negative, 
such  marriages  being  evidently  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  Scrip 
tures,  and  incestuous.  See  Lev.  18  :  6,  12,  13. 

"  'Resolved,  2.  That  the  second  question  in  the  overture  be  answered 
as  follows,  viz.  :  In  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  such  a  connection 
as  is  contemplated  by  the  overture  demands  the  judicial  action  of  the 
Church,  and,  if  not  repented  of,  should  incur  Church  censure/  " — 
Minutes,  1853,  p.  339. 


G.  Marriage  Engagements  mat/  be  dissolved,  but  liasty  Engagements  are 

to  l>e  censured. 

"An  affair  concerning  promises  of  marriage  between  and  a 

young  woman,  being  laid  before  the   Synod  by  the  Presbytery  of  New 

Castle,  the  Synod  on  the  consideration  thereof,  and  because desired 

on  some  accounts  to  be  loosed  from  said  obligation,  and  it  was  found  the 
young  woman  scrupled  the  lawfulness  of  their  being  loosed  from  said 
obligation,  the  first  question  put  in  the  affair  was,  Whether  a  single  man 
and  woman  having  promised  marriage  to  each  other,  may  lawfully  agree 
again  to  release  each  other  from  the  promise ;  and  after  mature  delibera- 


MARRIAGE.  245 

tion,  the  Synod  resolved  the  case,  that  it  was  lawful,  nemine  contradi- 
cente. 

11 being  called  before  the  Synod  and  asked,  whether  he  had 

promised  to  this  young  woman  marriage,  he  acknowledged  he  had,  and 
that  he  was  culpable  in  entering  into  such  rash  and  unwarrantable 
methods  of  engaging. 

"The  question  was  put,  censure  or  not,  and  it  was  carried  censure. 

"Another  question  was  put,  what  censure  is  to  be  inflicted  upon  him 
for  his  misconduct  in  the  above  mentioned  affair  ? 

"  And  after  serious  consideration  and  much  reasoning  on  this  head, 
the  Synod  came  to  a  resolution,  that  a  rebuke  before  the  Synod  was 
necessary  to  show  our  detestation  of  such  rash  proceedings  in  young- 
people.  And  that  Mr.  John  Thompson  admonish  him. 

" being  called,  the  minute  in  respect  to  his  affair  was  read  and 

he  censured  accordingly,  to  which  he  submitted/' — Minutes,  1750,  p. 
198. 

7.    Clandestine  Marriage  discouraged. 

"  The  Synod  do  recommend  it  to  all  their  members  to  use  the  greatest 
caution  that  they  do  not  countenance  any  clandestine  marriages,  and 
especially  that  they  do  not  marry  any  that  they  have  reason  to  suspect 
to  go  contrary  to  the  minds  of  their  parents  and  guardians  in  seeking 
it." — Minutes,  1735,  p.  115. 

8.   Publication  of  Purpose  of  Marriage. 

"  What  is  a  sufficient  publication  of  the  purpose  of  marriage  according 
to  the  second  sentence  of  the  sixth  section  of  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
the  Book  of  Discipline  ? 

"Resolved,  That  the  following  be  given  as  an  answer  to  this  question, 
viz.  :  That  the  Presbyteries  are  the  best  judges  in  the  case." — Minutes, 
1820,  p.  740. 

9.   Bigamy  and  Divorce. 

A  Bigamist  to  be  excluded  from  the  Communion.  Wilful  Desertion  a 
just  cause  of  Divorce.  If  just  cause  exist,  and  Divorce  lie  refused, 
lie  may  be  admitted  to  Church  privileges,  but  only  with  the  greatest 

caution. 

"A  married  man  left  Ireland  a   number  of  years  ago,  leaving  his 


246  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

family  behind  him,  with  hopes  of  providing  better  for  them  in  this 
country.  He  afterwards  returned  to  Ireland  three  sundry  times,  with 
an  intention  of  bringing  in  his  family.  But  by  no  arguments  could  his 
wife  be  persuaded  to  come  with  him ;  and  the  last  time  peremptorily 
refused  all  further  cohabitation.  He  afterwards  returned,  and  remained 
in  single  life  ten  years  in  this  country.  He  is  since  married,  and  has 
children  in  second  marriage  :  his  wife  and  he  are  desiring  communion. 

"  This  man  ought  not  to  be  admitted  to  the  privileges  of  the  Church; 
because,  although  wilful  and  obstinate  desertion  is  a  legal  cause  of 
divorce,  yet  it  does  not  appear  that  this  man  has  actually  been  divorced 
from  his  wife ;  and  it  is  improper  and  dangerous  to  receive  to  Church 
communion  such  persons  as,  in  the  eye  of  the  civil  law,  are  living  in 
vice.  And  although  a  good  man  may  sometimes  be  oppressed  by  power, 
and  prevented  from  obtaining  a  divorce  where  sufficient  causes  exist,  yet 
it  does  not  appear  from  your  representation  that  he  has  used  the  proper 
means  to  obtain  a  legal  divorce,  nor  even  to  authenticate  the  facts  upon 
which  he  founds  his  application  for  the  privileges  of  the  Church  by  suffi 
cient  evidence  from  Ireland, — the  place  in  which  they  happened,  and 
where  alone  they  can  be  substantiated;  and  it  is  contrary  to  all  just 
rules  of  proceeding  to  take  any  evidence  or  representation  ex  parte. 
But,  the  decision  of  the  Assembly  notwithstanding,  if  it  shall  appear 
that  this  man  has  separated  from  his  wife  by  her  wilful  and  obstinate 
desertion,  and  that  he  has  taken  all  just  means  to  obtain  a  divorce,  to 
which  he  was  lawfully  entitled,  but  was  prevented  and  oppressed  by  the 
power  of  antagonists  or  of  unjust  courts;  and  if  he  shall  moreover  pro 
duce  such  evidence  of  these  facts  from  the  place  in  which  they  happened, 
as  would  entitle  him  to  a  divorce  by  the  laws  of  this  land  and  of  this 
Church,  then,  in  that  case,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  General  Assembly 
that  such  man  behaving  himself  otherwise  as  a  good  Christian,  may  be 
admitted  to  Church  privileges.  But  in  such  case,  it  is  necessary  that 
the  most  authentic  evidence  be  required  and  great  caution  used,  both 
that  the  proceedings  of  the  Church  may  not  be  inconsistent  with  the 
civil  law,  and  that  a  door  be  not  opened  to  laxness  on  this  important 
subject  of  morals." — Minutes,  1790,  p.  28. 

10.  Marriage  icith  a  Divorced  Woman. 

"  The  Assembly  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  unfinished  business 
of  the  morning,  viz.,  the  complaint  against  the  Synod  of  Iowa.  Every 


MARRIAGE.  247 

member  having  had  an  opportunity  to  express  his  opinion  in  the  case, 
the  roll  was  called,  and  the  complaint  of  the  Presbytery  of  Des  Moines 
against  the  Synod  of  Iowa,  in  the  case  of  Rev.  James  H.  Shields,  was 
sustained  by  a  vote  of  106  to  52.  Excused  from  voting,  1. 

"  The  Rev.  Messrs.  Theodore  Spencer,  James  Eells,  and  John  W. 
Dulles,  with  Hon.  Arnold  Naudain,  M.D.,  and  Thomas  W.  Fry,  M.D., 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  minute  on  this  case. 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  minute  on  the  complaint 
against  the  Synod  of  Iowa  in  the  case  of  the  Rev.  James  H.  Shields, 
report  as  follows : 

"  In  the  year  1853,  Maria  C.  Cowles  presented  a  petition  under  oath  to 
the  District  Court  of  Wayne  County,  Iowa,  praying  for  a  divorce  from 
her  husband,  William  A.  Cowles,  in  which  it  was  stated  substantially, 
that  she  had  been  lawfully  married  to  said  Cowles  in  January,  1839,  in 
the  State  of  Massachusetts  j  that  they  had  lived  together  there  until 
August,  1851,  when  she  separated  herself  from  him,  and  proceeded  to 
Iowa,  where  she  has  since  resided.  That,  previous  to  her  departing 
from  him  in  1851,  her  husband  was  in  the  habit  of  becoming  intoxicated, 
and  when  so  intoxicated,  was  ill-natured  and  abusive, — so  much  so,  that 
her  situation  as  his  wife  became  intolerable ;  and  she  had  been  under 
the  necessity  of  leaving  his  house  and  of  making  her  own  living  since 
that  time,  the  defendant  having  neglected  to  make  provision  for  her 
support  since  the  period  of  her  separation  from  him.  No  pertinent  proof 
of  the  truth  of  these  allegations  was  made ;  but  the  court,  notwithstand 
ing,  granted  her  a  divorce  a  vinculo  matrimonii ;  when  James  H. 
Shields,  then  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  Des  Moines,  being  cogni 
zant  of  all  the  facts  in  the  case,  was  married  to  the  said  Maria  C.  Cowles, 
and  has  continued  to  cohabit  with  her  as  his  wife.  In  April,  1856,  the 
Presbytery  instituted  proceedings  against  him  for  adultery,  and  finally 
convicted  him  of  that  offence,  and  deposed  him  from  the  ministry  and 
excommunicated  him  from  the  Church.  Thereupon  the  said  Shields 
appealed  to  the  Synod  of  Iowa,  who  reversed  the  decision  of  Presbytery. 
The  case  is  before  this  General  Assembly,  on  a  complaint  of  the  Rev. 
Thompson  Bird,  on  behalf  of  the  Presbytery,  against  the  action  of  Synod. 

"  In  view  of  all  the  testimony  brought  before  the  Assembly,  the  com 
plaint  is  sustained. 

"It  has  not  been  made  to  appear,  that  the  said  Maria  C.  Cowles 
attempted  to  establish  the  fact  of  adultery  against  her  husband,  William 
A.  Cowles.  Neither  has  there  been  proved  ( such  wilful  desertion'  on 


248  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

his  part,  'as  can  no  way  be  remedied  by  the  Church  or  civil  magistrate/ 
as  is  recognized  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  (chap,  xxiv,  sec.  6)  as  '  cause 
sufficient  of  dissolving  the  bond  of  marriage/ 

"The  General  Assembly  do,  therefore,  consider  that  the  said  James 
H.  Shields  was  properly  convicted  of  adultery;  and  the  decision  of  the 
Synod  of  Iowa  in  this  case  is  hereby  reversed,  and  the  judgment  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Des  Moines  therein  confirmed. 

"  The  Assembly,  whilst  rendering  this  decision,  takes  occasion  to  call 
the  attention  of  the  churches  under  its  care  to  a  tendency,  manifest  in 
some  portions  of  our  country,  to  relax  the  sacredness  of  the  marriage  tie. 
Lying,  as  the  institution  of  marriage  does,  at  the  very  foundation  of 
order,  purity,  and  prosperity  in  the  State  and  in  the  Church,  the 
Assembly  cannot  view  without  abhorrence  any  attempt  to  diminish  its 
sanctity  or  to  extend  beyond  the  warrant  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  the 
grounds  of  divorce."— Minutes,  1858,  pp.  599,  600. 

11.  [A  sentence  of  the  Presbytery  of  Portage,  suspending,  and  ulti 
mately  deposing,  the  Rev.  Geo.  Sheldon,  on  the  charge  of  adultery,  in 
having  married  a  second  wife  in  tbe  lifetime  of  his  first,  from  whom  he 
had  obtained  a  divorce  in  the  civil  courts,  on  other  than  scriptural 
grounds,  was  sustained. — Minutes,  1858,  p.  607,  609.  See  chap,  vi, 
sec.  2,  21,  p.  223.] 

SECTION  2. — ON  THE  SABBATH. 

1.  A  postmaster  officiating  on  the  Sabbath  is  rightly  excluded  from  the  Church. 
— 2.  Ownership  in  stages  running  upon  the  Sabbath,  inconsistent  with  Christian 
character. — 3.  Petitions  in  reference  to  Sunday  mails. — 4.  A  deliverance  on  the 
profanation  of  the  Sabbath.  Ministers  enjoined  to  preach  upon  it,  and  Sessions 
to  enforce  discipline. — 5.  Deliverance  of  the  Assembly  of  1S3G  upon  the  same 
subject. — G.  On  Sabbath  desecration.  Travelling  on  the  Sabbath  specially  con 
demned. — 7.  Church  Sessions  urged  to  greater  fidelity. 

1.    Officiating  as  Postmaster  on  the  Sabbath  excludes  from  Communion 

of  the  Church. 

a.  "An  appeal  by  Mr.  Wiley,  postmaster  in  "Washington,  Pennsyl 
vania,  from  a  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  by  which  it  is  deter 
mined  that  Mr.  Wiley's  officiating  as  postmaster  on  the  Sabbath  day,  in 
existing  circumstances,  is  a  sufficient  reason  to  exclude  him  from  the 
special  privileges  of  the  Church,  was  overtured  and  read.  On  motion, 


THE    SABBATH.  249 

"Resolved,  That  the  above  decision  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  be 
affirmed,  and  it  hereby  is  affirmed." — Minutes,  1810,  p.  456. 

I.  "A  petition,  signed  by  a  number  of  persons  in  Washington,  Penn 
sylvania,  and  its  vicinity,  praying  the  revision,  with  a  view  to  its  being 
rescinded,  of  the  decision  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1810,  respecting 
the  case  of  Mr.  Wiley,  postmaster,  was  overtured. 

u  Resolved,  That  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  be  not  granted." — 
Minutes,  1812,  p.  508. 


2.    Ownership   in    Stages  running   on   tlie    Sabbath   inconsistent  with 
Christian  Profession. 

"  In  an  overture  relative  to  receiving  a  person  as  a  member  of  the 
Church,  who  is  a  proprietor  in  a  line  of  stages  which  carries  the  mail 
and  runs  on  the  Sabbath — 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  the  decided  opinion  of  this  Assembly  that  all 
attention  to  worldly  concerns  on  the  Lord's  day,  farther  than  the  works 
of  necessity  and  mercy  demand,  is  inconsistent  both  with  the  letter  and 
spirit  of  the  fourth  commandment ;  and  consequently  all  engagements 
in  regard  to  secular  occupations  on  the  Lord's  day,  with  a  view  to  secure 
worldly  advantages,  are  to  be  considered  inconsistent  with  Christian 
character,  and  that  those  who  are  concerned  in  such  engagements  ought 
not  to  be  admitted  into  the  communion  of  the  Church  while  they  con 
tinue  in  the  same/' — Minutes,  1819,  p.  713. 

[See  also  5,  resolution  5,  p.  253,  on  owning  stock  in  steamboats,  canals, 
railroads,  &c.,  which  run  on  the  Sabbath.] 


3.  Petitions  to  Congress  on  Carry  ing  the  Mails  on  the  /Sabbath. 

[In  1812,  the  Assembly  addressed  a  petition  to  Congress,  setting 
forth  the  evils  of  Sabbath  profanation,  and  praying]  "  for  such  an  alter 
ation  in  the  law  relative  to  the  mails  as  will  prevent  the  profanation  of 
the  Sabbath  which  now  takes  place  in  conveying  and  opening  the  mail." 
-Minutes,  1812,  pp.  -513,  514. 

Again,  in  1814,  a  petition  on  the  same  subject  was  prepared,  and 
"  each  Presbytery  directed  to  take  order  that  the  same  be  circulated  for 
subscription  in  all  the  congregations  under  their  care/'  and  " forwarded 
to  Congress  by  the  first  day  of  January  next." — Minutes,  1814,  p.  566. 


250  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

[In  1815,  the  Assembly  again  considered  t,he  subject,  and  after  adopt 
ing  the  report  of  a  committee  (Minutes,  p.  597),  sent  out  another  peti 
tion  to  be  signed  and  forwarded  to  Congress,  viz. :] 

"The  undersigned,  inhabitants  of ,  and  State  of ,  beg 

leave  to  represent  to  the  honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represen 
tatives  of  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  that  in  the  opinion 
of  your  petitioners,  the  transportation  and  opening  of  the  mail  on  the 
Sabbath  day  is  inconsistent  with  the  proper  observance  of  that  sacred 
day,  injurious  to  the  morals  of  the  nation,  and  provokes  the  judgments 
of  the  Ruler  of  nations.  We  perceive  from  the  report  of  the  Postmaster- 
General,  at  your  last  session  on  this  subject,  that  it  is  his  opinion  that 
when  peace  shall  arrive,  the  necessity  of  carrying  and  opening  the  mail 
on  the  Sabbath  day  will  greatly  diminish.  While,  therefore,  we  con 
gratulate  you  on  the  return  of  peace,  we  approach  you  with  confidence, 
and  beseech  you  to  take  this  subject  into  your  serious  consideration,  and 
enact  such  laws  as  you  in  your  wisdom  may  deem  necessary  for  the  re 
moval  of  this  evil.  And  we,  your  petitioners,  as  in  duty  bound,  will 
ever  pray." — Minutes,  1815,  p.  601. 

4.  Deliverance  on  tlie  Profanation  of  the  Sabbath. 

a.  "  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  overture  respecting  the 
profanation  of  the  Lord's  day,  presented  the  following  resolutions,  which 
were  adopted,  viz. : 

"  1st.  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  regard  with  pain  and  deep  regret 
the  profanation  of  the  Lord's  day,  which  exists  in  our  country  in  various 
forms,  and  which  is  calculated  in  an  alarming  degree  to  create  a  neglect 
of  public  worship,  a  contempt  of  the  authority  of  Almighty  God,  a  cor 
ruption  of  morals,  and  eventually  to  bring  down  the  judgment  of  God 
on  our  land. 

"2d.  Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  repeat  the  warnings  which  have 
heretofore  been  frequently  given  on  this  subject,  and  do  solemnly  and 
earnestly  exhort  the  churches  and  individuals  in  their  connection,  to 
avoid  a  participation  in  the  guilt  of  profaning  this  holy  day. 

"  3d.  Resolved,  That  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  the  ministers  of 
the  Presbyterian  churches  who  have  pastoral  charges,  frequently  and 
solemnly  to  address  their  people  on  the  subject  of  the  sanctification  of 
the  Lord's  day,  and  to  urge  its  vital  importance  to  our  moral;  social,  and 
civil,  as  well  as  religious  welfare. 


THE    SABBATH.  251 

"4th.  Resolved,  That  it  be  solemnly  enjoined  on  all  the  Presbyteries 
and  church  Sessions  in  our  connection,  to  exercise  discipline  on  their 
respective  members  whenever  guilty  of  violating  the  sanctity  of  the  Sab 
bath  ;  and  that  an  inquiry  should  be  annually  instituted  in  each  Presby 
tery  relative  to  this  subject;  and  that  each  pastor  should,  at  the  earliest 
opportunity  practicable,  present  this  subject,  in  all  its  solemn  importance, 
to  the  Session  of  the  church  under  his  pastoral  charge,  and  invite  the 
co-operation  of  its  members  in  all  proper  and  prudent  measures  for 
the  suppression  of  Sabbath-breaking;  and  further,  that  it  be  recom 
mended  to  all  our  ministers  and  church  members,  when  travelling,  to 
give  preference  to  such  livery  establishments,  steamboats,  canal-boats, 
and  other  public  vehicles,  as  do  not  violate  the  law  of  God  and  of  the 
land,  in  relation  to  the  Sabbath."— Minutes,  1826,  pp.  182, 183. 

1.  "Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  renewedly  enjoin  upon  their  Pres 
byteries  and  churches  the  duty  of  enforcing  the  discipline  of  the  Church 
in  every  case  of  a  violation  of  the  Sabbath." — Minutes,  1828,  p.  242. 

5.  Another  Deliverance  upon  the  same  Subject. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  Overture  No.  5,  relating  to  the 
Christian  Sabbath,  respectfully  report : 

"  That  they  have  given  to  the  consideration  of  it  all  that  attention 
which  circumstances  would  permit ;  and  are  prepared  to  submit  to  the 
Assembly  the  results  of  their  deliberations. 

"  One  important  fact  cannot  be  denied.  The  desecration  of  the  Sab 
bath  is  certainly  increasing  with  fearful  rapidity  in  almost  every  part  of 
our  beloved  country.  A  solemn  and  alarming  crisis  has  already  come. 
Unless  the  slumbering  energies  of  the  Church  are  speedily  aroused  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  this  growing  evil,  the  entire  obliteration  of  the 
Sabbath  will,  at  no  distant  period,  be  the  result.  It  is  necessary  only  to 
look  into  our  large  cities  and  villages  on  the  Sabbath,  or  to  glance  the 
eye  along  our  navigable  rivers  and  over  our  beautiful  lakes,  or  to  trace 
the  extended  lines  of  our  canals  and  railroads,  or  listen  to  the  perpetual 
rumbling  of  loaded  vehicles  on  all  our  travelled  routes,  in  order  to  be 
convinced  that  Sabbath-breaking  has  already  become  a  sin  of  giant 
growth  in  our  land.  It  is,  indeed,  a  wide-spread,  deep-seated,  unblush 
ing  evil.  It  enters  boldly  into  almost  every  commercial  interest  in  the 
country,  and  embraces,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  its  broad  sweep  of  mis 
chief,  a  vast  multitude  of  individuals ;  and,  what  is  still  worse,  an  alarm- 


252  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

ing  proportion  of  these  offenders  belong  to  the  Church  of  the  living  God. 
Here  is  the  root  of  the  evil.  The  Church  has  become  a  deliberate 
partaker  in  this  great  sin.  In  this  way  has  her  warning  voice  been  well- 
nigh  silenced,  her  redeeming  power  over  the  community  paralyzed,  and 
the  salutary  restraints  of  a  consistent  example  effectually  vacated.  Re 
formation,  then,  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God.  If  the  Church  alone 
can  save  the  Sabbath  from  being  abolished,  she  must  first  reform  her 
own  conduct.  In  entering  upon  the  work,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that, 
in  its  failure  or  success  are  involved  the  best  interests  of  the  Church,  of 
our  country,  and  the  world.  Hie  rest  of  the  Sabbath  is  the  only  wise 
and  adequate  provision  for  the  wants  of  the  animal  system.  The  influ 
ence  of  the  Sabbath  can  alone  be  relied  on  to  sustain  our  free  institutions, 
to  extend  the  empire  of  law,  to  preserve  domestic  order  and  happiness, 
and  to  continue  the  bare  existence  of  morality  and  religion  in  the  world. 
The  abandonment  of  the  Sabbath  is,  therefore,  nothing  less  than  resign 
ing  all  that  is  sacred  and  dear  to  a  Christian  people,  for  time  and  for 
eternity.  It  is  certain  that  whatever  is  done  to  rebuke  and  arrest  the 
profanation  of  the  Sabbath,  must  be  done  immediately.  The  work  of 
reform  cannot  be  delayed,  without  hazarding  the  irretrievable  loss  of  all 
the  blessings  which  flow  from  the  observance  of  that  day.  The  task  has 
already  become  formidable  and  difficult.  It  is  not,  however,  altogether 
hopeless.  The  Sabbath  may  yet  be  restored,  and  its  blessings  per 
petuated.  The  Church  and  the  ministry  can,  under  God,  do  all  that 
the  exigency  demands.  Let  this  Assembly  do  their  whole  duty ;  let 
them  lift  up  a  voice  of  strength  ;  let  them  send  out  a  loud  note  of  alarm  ; 
let  them  determine,  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord,  to  carry  out,  in  their 
practical  relation  to  the  Sabbath,  the  true  principles  of  Christian  disci 
pline,  and  the  whole  Church  may  be  cleansed,  the  Sabbath  reinstated, 
and  this  great  and  guilty  nation  saved.  Till  this  is  done,  the  power  of 
every  other  Christian  enterprise  will  be  circumscribed  and  fluctuating. 
Nothing  that  is  pure  and  holy  can  flourish  without  the  Sabbath.  The 
Sabbath  reform  is  the  fundamental  enterprise.  It  is  utterly  vain  to 
think  of  substituting  any  other  conservative  power.  The  question  of 
rescuing  the  Sabbath  from  general  profanation  is,  absolutely,  a  question 
of  life  and  death  to  every  Christian  denomination  in  the  world.  Such 
is  the  momentous  nature  of  the  subject  under  consideration.  Your  com 
mittee  rejoice  that  in  this  work  all  hearts  may  unite,  and  every  minor 
difference  be  forgotten.  Here  is  common  ground.  The  Sabbath  of  the 
Lord  is  the  inheritance  of  all  true  Christians ;  and  there  is  work  enough 


THE    SABBATH.  253 

for  all.  The  Church  must  revive  her  wholesome  discipline.  The 
ministry  must  cry  aloud  and  spare  not.  The  press  must  be  enlisted; 
the  whole  community  aroused.  The  entire  instrumentality  which  God 
has  prepared  for  preserving  his  own  institutions  must  be  called  forth, 
and  kept  in  untiring  requisition.  For  the  purpose  of  enabling  the 
General  Assembly  more  effectually  to  speak  their  sentiments  to  the 
churches  and  the  nation,  your  committee  recommend  the  adoption  of 
the  following  resolutions : 

"1.  Resolved,  That  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  is  indispensable 
to  the  preservation  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  furnishes  the  only 
security  for  eminent  and  abiding  prosperity,  either  to  the  Church  or  the 
world. 

"2.  Resolved,  That  the  growing  desecration  of  the  Sabbath  in  our 
country  must  be  speedily  arrested,  and  the  habits  of  the  community 
essentially  reformed,  or  the  blessings  of  the  Sabbath,  civil,  social,  and 
religious,  will  soon  be  irrecoverably  lost. 

"3.  Resolved,  That  inasmuch  as  the  work  of  a  general  reformation 
belongs,  under  God,  to  the  Christian  Church,  it  is -the  duty  of  the 
Church  to  apply  the  corrections  of  a  firm  and  efficient  discipline  to  all 
known  violations  of  the  Sabbath,  on  the  part  of  her  members. 

"  4.  Resolved,  That  inasmuch  as  ministers  of  the  Gospel  must  act  a 
conspicuous  part  in  every  successful  effort  to  do  away  the  sin  of  Sabbath- 
breaking,  it  is  their  duty  to  observe,  both  in  their  preaching  and  their 
practice,  the  rule  of  entire  abstinence  from  all  profanation  of  the  Lord's 
day,  studiously  avoiding  even  the  appearance  of  evil. 

"5.  Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  General  Assembly,  the 
owners  of  stock  in  steamboats,  canals,  railroads,  &c.,  which  are  in  the 
habit  of  violating  the  Sabbath,  are  lending  their  property  and  their 
influence  to  one  of  the  most  wide-spread,  alarming,  and  deplorable  sys 
tems  of  Sabbath  desecration  which  now  grieves  the  hearts  of  the  pious, 
and  disgraces  the  Church  of  God. 

"That  it  be  respectfully  recommended  to  the  friends  of  the  Lord's 
day,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  establish  such  means  of  public  conveyance  as 
shall  relieve  the  friends  of  the  Sabbath  from  the  necessity  under  which 
they  now  labor  of  travelling  at  any  time  in  vehicles  which  habitually 
violate  that  holy  day,  and  thus  prevent  them  from  being  in  any  way 
partakers  in  other  men's  sins  in  this  respect. 

"  6.  Resolved,  That  the  power  of  the  pulpit  and  the  press  must  be 
immediately  put  in  requisition  on  behalf  of  a  dishonored  Sabbath,  that 


254  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

the  magnitude  and  remedy  of  the  evils,  which  its  violation  involves,  may 
be  fully  understood  by  the  whole  community. 

"7.  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  solemnly  enjoin  it  upon  the 
churches  under  their  care  to  adopt,  without  delay,  all  proper  measures 
for  accomplishing  a  general  and  permanent  reformation  from  the  sin  of 
Sabbath-breaking,  and  all  its  attendant  evils. 

"  8.  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  one  from  each  Synod  under  the 
care  of  this  Assembly  be  now  appointed,  to  hold  correspondence  with 
ministers  and  churches,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  and  applying 
the  leading  principles  of  the  foregoing  report  and  resolutions. 

"9.  Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  report  and  resolutions  be  published 
in  such  newspapers,  secular  and  religious,  as  are  friendly  to  the  observ 
ance  of  the  Sabbath."— Minutes,  1836,  pp.  281-283. 

6.  For  the  better  Observance  of  the  Sabbath. 

"The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  Overture  No.  5,  to  wit,  '  A 
memorial  from  the  Presbytery  of  Cleveland  on  the  subject  of  Sabbath 
mails,'  having  been  instructed  to  report  on  the  general  subject  of '  Sab 
bath  desecration/  submit  the  following  : 

"In  the  deliberate  judgment  of  your  committee,  it  is  an  unquestiona 
ble  fact  that,  in  despite  of  all  which  has  been  said  and  done  to  check  it, 
the  profanation  of  the  Lord's  day  is,  on  the  whole  increasing.  There 
are,  indeed,  some  local  and  cheering  exceptions  to  this  remark,  which 
we  are  happy  to  acknowledge.  As  a  national  sin,  however,  it  steadily 
gathers  strength,  and  puts  on  a  more  unblushing  face  every  year.  We 
hear  much  of  the  moral  machinery  which  lias  been  set  in  motion  for  the 
salvation  of  our  country  and  of  the  world — of  the  blessed  light  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  the  glory  of  our  free  institutions.  Too  often 
do  we  seem  to  forget  that  the  very  institution  which  is  the  chief  support 
of  liberty,  learning,  and  religion,  is  itself  standing  in  fearful  jeopardy. 
All  those  whose  lot  is  cast  in  any  of  the  great  centres  of  business,  or  on 
any  of  the  principal  avenues  of  intercommunication,  know  that  what 
your  committee  assert  is  true.  Their  own  eyes  have  seen  it,  their  own 
ears  have  heard  it,  and  their  hearts  have  bled  over  it  a  thousand  times. 
It  is,  in  fact,  universally  conceded,  that  the  desecration  of  the  Sabbath 
has  become  a  giant  evil,  calling  loudly  for  the  most  efficient  measures  of 
reform.  Your  committee  desire  not  unnecessarily  to  publish  the  faults 
of  the  Christian  Church.  But  they  are  compelled  to  confess,  that  in 
many  parts  of  the  country  the  frequent  violations  of  the  Sabbath  by 
ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  by  other  professors  of  religion,  is  a  serious 


THE    SABBATH.  255 

obstacle  in  the  way  of  all  attempts  at  radical  and  permanent  reformation. 
Till  the  ministry  and  the  Church  have  purified  themselves,  all  else  will 
be,  as  it  has  been,  'beating  the  air.'  Travelling  on  the  Sabbath,  a 
practice  to  which  the  convocation  of  the  highest  judicatory  of  our  Church 
lends  its  guilty  sanction  •  voluntary  participation  in  enterprises  and  im 
provements  which  are  prosecuted  at  the  expense  of  the  Sabbath ;  the 
legalized  profanation  of  this  holy  day  by  the  transmission  of  the  mail  on 
all  the  principal  routes ;  and  the  frequent  neglect  of  Church  discipline, 
are  among  the  many  causes  of  the  rapid  spread  of  this  enormous  evil. 
The  bare  enumeration  of  these  causes  suggests  the  proper  remedy. 
Resolutions,  addresses,  conventions,  and  all  the  stirring  appeals  which 
the  subject  has  called  forth,  are,  by  themselves,  utterly  ineffectual.  The 
leviathan  with  which  we  are  now  contending  is  not  to  be  so  tamed.  A 
more  potent  corrective  must  be  applied,  or  we  shall  become  more  and 
more  a  nation  of  Sabbath-breakers.  The  Church  undoubtedly  possesses 
the  power  to  cleanse  her  own  garments,  and  till  she  has  done  this,  she 
has  no  strength  to  put  on  for  the  reformation  of  others.  Having  done 
this,  the  next  step  will  be  to  lift  up  a  united  voice  against  all  that  im 
moral  legislation  behind  which  the  sin  of  Sabbath-breaking  now  stands 
intrenched.  What  has  been  found  true  in  the  (  Temperance  Reform/ 
will  be  found  true  in  the  '  Sabbath  Reform.'  The  sanction  of  law  must 
be  removed  from  every  evil  which  you  would  frown  upon  and  exter 
minate.  To  do  this,  the  public  mind  must  be  waked  up,  and  held 
awake  till  the  combined  energy  of  patriotism  and  piety  is  enlisted  and 
pledged  for  the  protection  of  the  Sabbath  against  every  tangible  form  of 
profanation  and  abuse.  Your  committee  accordingly  recommend  for 
your  adoption  the  following  resolutions,  viz. : 

"Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  regard  the  prosecution  of  a  journey 
on  any  part  of  the  Sabbath,  whether  by  ministers,  elders,  or  church 
members,  for  the  sake  of  convenience  or  of  avoiding  expense,  as  deserv 
ing  of  special  notice  and  unqualified  disapprobation. 

"  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  affectionately  urge  upon  all  the  judi- 
catories  of  the  Church  to  take  suitable  measures  for  enforcing  the  wise 
discipline  of  the  Church  against  all  violations  of  the  Sabbath  within 
their  own  cognizance  and  jurisdiction. 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Christian  ministry  to  unite  in 
more  concentrated  and  persevering  efforts  to  assert  the  claims  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath  upon  the  habitual  regard  of  the  whole  community. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  will  give  its  most  cordial  approbation 


256  .  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

to  any  and  every  wise  plan  for  uniting  the  sympathies  and  strength  of 
all  evangelical  denominations  in  defence  of  the  Christian  Sabbath. 

"Resolved,  that  a  committee  of  nine  be  appointed  to  correspond  with 
other  evangelical  denominations  on  the  subject  of  measures  for  promot 
ing  a  better  observance  of  the  Lord's  day. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  clerks  of  this  Assembly  be  requested  to  cause 
these  resolutions  to  be  officially  published  and  circulated  as  widely  as 
possible,  through  the  religious  press,  and  that  all  ministers  within  our 
bounds  be  requested  to  present  them  before  their  respective  congrega 
tions."—  Minutes,  1838,  pp.  658,  659. 

[See  also  Minutes,  1840,  p.  14;  1843,  p.  13;  1846,  p.  15,  for  sub 
stantially  the  same  action.] 

7.    Church  Sessions  enjoined  to  greater  fidelity. 

"  The  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures  made  a  report  on  the  subject 
of  the  Sabbath,  which  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  Assembly  are  at  a  loss  what  to  say  more  than  what  they  have 
repeatedly  said,  by  way  of  urging  on  all  our  churches  and  congregations, 
and  the  community  generally,  a  better  observance  of  the  holy  Sabbath. 
Of  its  Divine  original  and  authority  we  have  no  doubt.  Nor  can  we 
doubt  its  indisputable  necessity  in  keeping  up  the  institutions  of  religion, 
and  promoting  the  cause  of  salvation  and  pure  morality.  What  could 
we  do  without  the  Sabbath  ?  And  where,  in  half  a  century,  will  be  our 
glorious  civil  and  religious  liberty,  if  the  terrible  process  of  Sabbath 
desecration  be  permitted  to  go  on  as  it  has  done  for  the  past  ten  years  ? 
Let  the  history  of  other  nations  answer.  Let  the  fearful  declarations  of 
God's  word  admonish  us  to  anticipate  the  result.  c  For  the  nation  and 
kingdom  that  will  not  serve  thee  shall  perish.' 

"  While,  therefore,  we  earnestly  entreat  our  fellow-citizens  of  every 
class  l  to  remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy,'  the  Assembly  do 
hereby,  in  a  special  manner,  enjmn  it  upon  the  church  Sessions  to  watch 
over  their  brethren  with  tenderness  and  great  fidelity  in  respect  to  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath ;  and  to  exercise  wholesome  discipline  on 
those  who,  by  travelling  or  other  ways,  presume  to  trample  upon  this 
sacred  institution.  And  we  further  enjoin  it  upon  the  Presbyteries  an 
nually  to  institute  inquiries  of  the  eldership,  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
this  injunction  has  been  attended  to  in  their  respective  churches." — • 
Minutes,  1853,  p.  323. 


INTEMPERANCE.  257 


SECTION  3. — INTEMPERANCE. 

1.  Action  of  the  Assembly.  Recommendation  to  preach  upon  the  sin  and  mis 
chiefs  of  intemperate  drinking. — 2.  Temperance  societies,  on  the  basis  of  total 
abstinence  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  approved. — 3.  Manufacture  and. 
traffic  in  ardent  spirits  condemned. — 4.  Total  abstinence  from  all  that  will 
intoxicate,  the  only  true  principle  of  temperance. — 5.  Prohibitory  laws  com 
mended  and  urged. — G.  An  overture  on  temperance.  Relation  of  the  Church 
to  voluntary  associations. 

[1.  A  committee  was  appointed  "  to  endeavor  to  devise  measures 
which,  when  sanctioned  by  the  General  Assembly,  may  have  an  influ 
ence  in  preventing  some  of  the  numerous  and  threatening  mischiefs 
which  are  experienced  throughout  our  country,  by  the  excessive  and  in 
temperate  use  of  spirituous  liquors,"  to  report  to  the  next  Assembly. 
On  the  report  of  the  committee  (Minutes,  1811,  p.  474),  it  was] 

"  Resohcd,  That  it  be  recommended  to  all  the  ministers  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church  in  the  United  States  to  deliver  public  discourses,  as 
often  as  circumstances  may  render  it  expedient,  on  the  sin  and  mischiefs 
of  intemperate  drinking;  in  which,  as  well  as  on  other  suitable  occasions, 
both  public  and  private,  it  will  be  proper  pointedly  and  solemnly  to  warn 
their  hearers,  and  especially  members  of  the  Church,  not  orily  against 
actual  intemperance,  but  against  all  those  habits  and  indulgences  which 
may  have  a  tendency  to  produce  it. 

"2.  That  it  be  enjoined  on  all  church  Sessions  within  the  bounds  of 
the  General1  Assembly,  that  they  exercise  a  special  vigilance  and  care 
over  the  conduct  of  all  persons  in  the  communion  of  their  respective 
churches,  with  regard  to  this  sin,  and  that  they  sedulously  endeavor,  by 
private  warning  and  remonstrance,  and  by  such  public  censures  as  dif 
ferent  cases  may  require,  to  purge  the  Church  of  a  sin  so  enormous  in 
its  mischiefs,  and  so  disgraceful  to  the  Christian  name. 

ao.  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  ministers  and  other  officers  and 
members  of  our  Church,  that  they  exert  themselves  to  diffuse  as  exten 
sively  as  possible,  among  their  congregations,  and  the  community  at 
large,  such  addresses,  sermons,  tracts,  or  other  printed  compositions  on 
this  subject,  as  may  have  a  tendency  to  produce  a  suitable  impression 
against  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  and  to  recommend  sobriety  and  tem 
perance. 

"4.  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  officers  and  members  of  our 

17 


258  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

Church  to  take  such  measures  as  may  be  judged  proper  and  effectual  for 
reducing  the  number  of  taverns  and  other  places  of  vending  liquors  by 
small  measure,  in  all  those  parts  of  our  country  in  which  either  their 
excessive  numbers,  or  the  improper  character  of  such  places,  renders 
them  a  public  nuisance. 

"  It  is  believed  that  the  evils  arising  from  these  sources  are  incalcu 
lably  great,  and  that  by  prudent  management  they  admit,  under  Provi 
dence,  of  very  considerable  diminution." — Minutes,  1812,  p.  511. 

[In  1818  the  evils  of  intemperance  are  enlarged  upon  in  the  pastoral 
letter,  and  the  officers  and  members  of  our  Church  are  urged  "  to  abstain 
even  from  the  common  use  of  ardent  spirits."  Minutes,  p.  689.  In 
1828,  the  Assembly  commends  the  "  American  Society  for  the  Promo 
tion  of  Temperance/'  Minutes,  p.  214.  The  same  year  they  "appoint 
the  fourth  Thursday  of  January,  1829,  a  day  of  fasting,  humiliation,  and 
prayer,  with  especial  reference  to  this  sin."  Minutes,  p.  244.] 

2.   Entire  Abstinence  from  tlic  Use  of  Ardent  Spirits. 

"  The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance  was  taken  up,  and 
after  mature  consideration,  was  unanimously  adopted,  and  is  as  follows, 
viz.  : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  this  Assembly  regard  with  devout  gratitude  and 
praise  the  great  success  which  has  attended  the  efforts  of  the  friends  of 
the  cause  of  temperance  during  the  past  year,  as  evinced  in  the  increase 
of  the  number  and  zeal  of  temperance  societies,  in  the  diminution  of  the 
sale  of  ardent  spirits,  and  in  the  existence  of  a  strong  and  increasing 
public  sentiment  against  the  use  of  it. 

"2.  That  they  cordially  approve  and  rejoice  in  the  formation  of 
temperance  societies  on  the  principle  of  entire  abstinence  from  the  use 
of  ardent  spirits,  as  expressing  disapprobation  of  intemperance  in  the 
strongest  and  most  efficient  manner,  and  making  the  most  available  re 
sistance  to  this  destructive  and  wide-spreading  evil. 

"3.  That  they  deeply  deplore  the  apathy  manifested  by  many  pro 
fessing  Christians  towards  the  cause  of  temperance,  while  many  dis 
tinguished  persons  who  make  no  religious  profession,  are  prompt  and 
powerful  fellow-laborers  with  Christians  in  this  worthy  and  divinely 
sanctioned  cause.  And  especially  do  they  grieve  and  wonder  that 
members  of  our  churches,  in  view  of  an  evil  so  desolating  and  so  awful 
in  its  prospective  bearings  on  all  the  interests  of  our  country,  should  not 


INTEMPERANCE.  259 

only  take  no  part  in  the  exertions  of  their  brethren  and  fellow-citizens 
against  intemperance,  but  by  using  and  trafficking  in  ardent  spirits,  be 
actively  engaged  in  promoting  it. 

"4.  That  they  earnestly  recommend,  as  far  as  is  practicable,  the 
forming  of  temperance  societies  in  the  congregations  under  their  care; 
and  that  all  members  of  the  churches  adopt  the  principle  of  entire 
abstinence  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits. 

"  5.  That  as  friends  of  the  cause  of  temperance,  this  Assembly 
rejoice  to  lend  the  force  of  their  example  to  that  cause  as  an  ecclesi 
astical  body  by  an  entire  abstinence  themselves  from  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits." — Minutes,  1829,  p.  262. 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  minute  expressive  of  the 
views  of  the  Assembly  on  the  subject  of  temperance,  reported  the  follow 
ing  resolutions,  which  were  adopted,  viz. : 

u  Resolved y  1.  That  this  Assembly  considers  itself  called  upon  to 
make  a  public  acknowledgment  of  the  goodness  of  God  for  the  un 
paralleled  success  with  which  he  has  crowned  the  efforts  of  those  who 
are  actively  concerned  in  the  promotion  of  temperance. 

U2.  That  the  experience  of  the  past  year  furnishes  additional  and 
most  abundant  evidence  of  the  wisdom  and  importance  of  the  plan 
adopted  by  the  American  Temperance  Society. 

"3.  That  this  Assembly  feels  bound  to  repeat  a  former  recommen 
dation  to  the  ministers,  elders,  and  members  of  the  churches  under  its 
care,  to  discountenance  the  use  of  distilled  liquors,  not  only  by  abstain 
ing  themselves  from  the  use  of  such  liquors,  but  by  actively  promoting 
every  prudent  measure  devised  for  the  purpose  of  furthering  the  cause 
of  temperance. 

"  4.  That  this  Assembly  earnestly  recommends  to  all  persons  for 
whose  spiritual  interests  it  is  bound  to  consult,  that  they  favor  the 
formation  of  temperance  societies  on  the  plan  of  entire  abstinence." — 
Minutes,  1830,  p.  298. 

3.  Manufacture  and  Traffic  in  Ardent  ^irits. 

a.  u  5.  That  while  this  Assembly  would  by  no  means  encroach  upon 
the  rights  of  private  judgment,  it  cannot  but  express  its  very  deep  regret 
that  any  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ  should,  at  the  present  day,  and 
under  existing  circumstances,  feel  themselves  at  liberty  to  manufacture, 
vend,  or  use  ardent  spirits,  and  thus  as  far  as  their  influence  extends, 


ZbO  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

counteract  the  efforts  now  making  for  the  promotion  of  temperance." — 
Minutes,  1830,  p.  298. 

b.  "Resolved,  That  the  traffic  in  ardent  spirits,  to  be  used  as  a  drink 
by  any  people,  is,  in  our  judgment,  morally  wrong,  and  ought  to  be 
viewed  as  such,  by  the  churches  of  Jesus  Christ  universally." — Minutes, 
1834,  p.  445. 

c.  "  It  is  with  the  utmost  surprise  and  pain  that  we  learn  from  the 
reports  of  two  or  three  Presbyteries,  that  some  of  their  members,  and 
even  ruling  elders,  still  manufacture  and  sell  ardent  spirits.      These 
things  ought  not  so  to  be.     They  are  a  stumbling-block  to  many,  and 
have  a  manifest  tendency  to  bring  overwhelming  calamities,  both  tem 
poral  and  spiritual,  on  society  at  large.     No  church  can  shine  as  a  light 
in  the  world,  while   she  openly  sanctions  and  sustains  any  practices, 
which  are  so  evidently  destructive  of  the  best  interests  of  society." — 
Minutes,  1837,  p.  510. 

4.    Total  Abstinence  from  all  that  will  Intoxicate. 

11  The  Assembly  would  also  recommend  to  all  the  members  of  the 
churches  under  its  care,  to  be  found  the  fast,  unflinching,  and  active 
friends  of  temperance;  abstaining  from  all  forms  and  fashions  which 
would  countenance  to  any  extent  the  sin  of  intemperance ;  avoiding  even 
the  appearance  of  evil;  disentangling  themselves  from  all  implication 
with  the  traffic  and  manufacture,  and  especially  presenting  in  their 
whole  lives  a  standing  and  unvarying  exemplification  of  the  only  true 
principle  of  temperance, — total  abstinence  from  everything  that  will  in 
toxicate." — Minutes,  1840,  p.  15. 

5.  Prohibitory  Laws. 

a.  "The  following  resolution  upon  the  subject  of  temperance  was 
unanimously  adopted  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  continue  to  view,  with  deep 
interest,  the  progress  of  the  temperance  reformation,  most  intimately 
connected  with  the  vital  interests  of  men  for  time  and  eternity;  and 
they  do  especially  hail  its  new  phase  through  the  action  of  several  State 
legfslatures,  by  which  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  is 
entirely  prohibited.  They  commend  this  new  system  of  legislation  to 
the  attention  and  support  of  all  ministers  and  churches  connected  with 


INTEMPERANCE.  261 

this  body,  for  its  blessed  results,  already  experienced;  and  as  able,  if 
universally  adopted,  to  do  much  to  seal  up  the  great  fountains  of 
drunkenness,  pauperism,  and  crime,  and  relieve  humanity  of  one  of  its 
most  demoralizing  and  distressing  evils/' — Minutes,  1854,  p.  503. 

b,  "  The  resolutions  upon  the  subject  of  temperance  were  taken  from 
the  docket,  adopted,  and  are  as  follows : 

"  Whereas,  Intemperance  is  the  great  antagonist  of  domestic  peace 
and  social  happiness,  of  sound  morality  and  pure  Christianity,  and  at 
war  with  all  the  dearest  interests  of  man  for  this  world  and  the  future ; 
and  whereas,  the  experience  of  two  hundred  years  proves,  that  this  evil 
can  never  be  removed  or  effectively  resisted,  while  the  traffic  in  intoxi 
cating  drinks  is  continued,  it  being  necessary  if  we  would  stop  the  effect 
to  remove  the  cause  ;  therefore 

"Resolved,  1.  That  this  Assembly,  as  lovers  of  our  holy  religion,  of 
our  country,  and  our  race,  and  as  office-bearers  in  the  church,  can  but 
feel  a  lively  interest  in  the  progress  of  the  temperance  reform. 

" Resolved,  2.  That  we  here  record  our  devout  thanksgiving  to 
Almighty  God,  for  the  recent  unparalleled  progress  of  this  reform,  as 
evinced  by  the  action  of  the  legislatures  of  thirteen  States  and  two 
Territories  of  our  Union,,  in  the  passage  of  laws  prohibiting  entirely  the 
traffic  of  all  intoxicating  beverages. 

"Resolved,  3.  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  body,  laws  prohibiting  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  can  interfere  with  the  rights  of  no  man; 
because  no  man  has  a  right  of  any  name  or  nature,  inconsistent  with  the 
public  good,  or  at  war  with  the  welfare  of  the  community;  it  being  a 
well-known  and  universally  acknowledged  maxim  of  law,  that  '  no  man 
has  a  right  to  use  his  own  to  the  injury  of  his  neighbor/ 

"Resolved,  4.  That  we  earnestly  recommend  to  the  ministers  and 
congregations  in  our  connection,  and  to  all  others,  to  persevere  in  vigor 
ous  efforts  until  laws  shall  be  enacted  in  every  State  and  Territory  of  our 
beloved  country,  prohibiting  entirely  a  traffic  which  is  the  principal 
cause  of  the  drunkenness,  and  its  consequent  pauperism,  crime,  taxa 
tion,  lamentation,  war,  and  ruin  to  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men,  with 
which  the  country  has  so  long  been  afflicted." — Minutes,  1855,  pp.  80, 
31. 

6.   An  Overture  on  Temperance.    'Relation  of  the  Church  to  voluntary 

Associations. 

"  The  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures  reported  an  overture  from 
AY.  F.  Stuart,  Samuel  Polkey,  Robert  Barry,  Joseph  H.  Leonard,  and 


262  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

Parker  Earle,  representatives  of  different  temperance  organizations  in 
Illinois,  praying  that  this  General  Assembly  would  'give  the  temperance 
cause  a  proper  prominence  among  the  means  of  reform  sustained  by  the 
Church  •'  and  especially  suggesting,  that  it  would  'arrange  or  recommend 
that  some  proper  temperance  movement  should  sustain  the  same  relation 
to  the  churches,  as  the  tract,  the  Bible,  and  the  missionary  causes  do, 
both  morally  and  financially,  it  would  be  of  immense  advantage  to  the 
cause.' 

"  The  committee  report,  that  this  overture  did  not  come  into  their 
possession  until  near  the  close  of  the  sessions  of  the  Assembly,  affording 
but  little  time  for  such  action  as  the  importance  of  the  subject  demands. 
In  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  petitioners,  the  Assembly  are 
willing  to  assign  to  the  cause  of  temperance  a  relation  to  our  Church  not 
dissimilar  to  that  which  has  been  given  to  the  benevolent  objects  with 
which  it  is  compared.  But  with  none  of  these  do  we  maintain  any  other 
connection,  than  that  which  their  own  moral  power  secures  upon  the 
free  affection  and  esteem  of  our  members.  Very  cheerfully  and  earnestly 
would  this  Assembly  commend  the  cause  of  temperance  to  all  the 
ministers  and  members  of  our  Church,  and  urge  them  heartily  to  co 
operate  with  every  judicious  effort  in  a  Christian  spirit  to  promote  it; 
that  pastors  frequently  preach  upon  the  subject,  and  especially  that  no 
countenance  be  given  to  those  social  usages,  by  which  great  temptations 
to  intemperance  are  thrown  before  their  fellow- men.'7 — Minutes,  1860, 
p.  262. 


SECTION  4. — ON  THE  THEATRE  AND  DANCING. 

1.  Theatrical  exhibitions  and  dancing  condemned. — 2.  Dancing  dangerous  to 
morals,  and  to  be  condemned. — 3.  Promiscuous  dancing  calls  for  faithful  and 
judicious  discipline. 

1.    Theatrical  Exhibitions  and  Dancing  condemned. 

"  On  the  fashionable  though,  as  we  believe,  dangerous  amusements 
of  theatrical  exhibitions  and  dancing,  we  deem  it  necessary  to  make  a 
few  observations.  The  theatre  we  have  always  considered  as  a  school  of 
immorality.  If  any  person  wishes  fo'r  honest  conviction  on  this  subject, 
let  him  attend  to  the  character  of  that  mass  of  matter  which  is  generally 
exhibited  on  the  stage.  We  believe  all  will  agree  that  comedies  at  least, 


THE  THEATRE  AND  DANCING.  263 

with  a  few  exceptions,  are  of  such  a  description,  that  a  virtuous  and 
modest  person  cannot  attend  the  representation  of  them,  without  the 
most  painful  and  embarrassing  sensations.  If  indeed  custom  has  fami 
liarized  the  scene,  and  these  painful  sensations  are  no  longer  felt,  it  only 
proves  that  the  person  in  question  has  lost  some  of  the  best  sensibilities 
of  our  nature,  that  the  strongest  safeguard  of  virtue  has  been  taken 
down,  and  that  the  moral  character  has  undergone  a  serious  deprecia 
tion."—  Minutes,  1818,  p.  690. 

2.   Dancing  a  dangerous  Amusement,  and  to  l>e  discouraged. 

11  With  respect  to  dancing,  we  think  it  necessary  to  observe,  that 
however  plausible  it  may  appear  to  some,  it  is  perhaps  not  the  less  dan 
gerous  on  account  of  that  plausibility.  It  is  not  from  those  things 
which  the  world  acknowledges  to  be  most  wrong,  that  the  greatest 
danger  is  to  be  apprehended  to  religion,  especially  as  it  relates  to  the 
young.  When  the  practice  is  carried  to  its  highest  extremes,  all  admit 
the  consequences  to  be  fatal ;  and  why  not  then  apprehend  danger,  even 
from  its  incipient  stages  ?  It  is  certainly  in  all  its  stages  a  fascinating 
and  an  infatuating  practice.  Let  it  once  be  introduced,  and  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  give  it  limits.  It  steals  away  our  precious  time,  dissipates  reli 
gious  impressions,  and  hardens  the  heart.  To  guard  you,  beloved 
brethren,  against  its  wiles  and  its  fascinations,  we  earnestly  recommend 
that  you  will  consult  that  sobriety  which  the  sacred  pages  require.  We 
also  trust  that  you  will  attend,  with  the  meekness  and  docility  becoming 
the  Christian  character,  to  the  admonitions  on  this  subject  of  those 
whom  you  have  chosen  to  watch  for  your  souls.  And  now,  beloved 
brethren,  that  you  may  be  guarded  from  the  dangers  we  have  pointed 
out,  and  from  all  other  dangers  which  beset  the  path  of  life,  and  obstruct 
our  common  salvation,  and  that  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  may  have 
you  in  his  holy  keeping,  is  our  sincere  and  affectionate  prayer.  Amen." — 
Minutes,  1818,  p.  690. 

3.  Promiscuous  Dancing  calls  for  faithful  and  judicious  Discipline. 

u  Resolved,  That  the  fashionable  amusement  of  promiscuous  dancing 
is  so  entirely  unscriptural,  and  eminently  and  exclusively  that  of  ( the 
world  which  lieth  in  wickedness,'  and  so  wholly  inconsistent  with  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  and  with  that  propriety  of  Christian  deportment  and 


264  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

that  purity  of  heart  which  his  followers  are  bound  to  maintain,  as  to 
render  it  not  only  improper  and  injurious  for  professing  Christians 
either  to  partake  in  it,  or  to  qualify  their  children  for  it,  by  teaching 
them  the  art;  but  also  to  call  for  the  faithful  and  judicious  exercise  of 
discipline  on  the  part  of  church  Sessions,  when  any  of  the  members  of 
their  churches  have  been  guilty/' — Minutes,  1843,  p.  14. 
Reaffirmed,  Minutes,  1853,  p.  340. 


SECTION  5. — GAMBLING,  LOTTERIES,  AND  BETTING. 

J.   These  sins  to  be  denounced  and  avoided. — 2.   Lotteries  to  be  discountenanced, 
and,  if  possible,  done  away. 

1.    These  Sins  to  lie  denounced  and  avoided. 

"  The  vice  of  gambling  has  also  been  forced  upon  our  attention.  We 
indeed  hope  that  few,  or  perhaps  none  of  our  actual  professors,  have  in 
dulged  themselves  in  the  practice  of  what  they  consider  as  coming  under 
the  denomination  of  gambling.  But  perhaps  there  are  some  addicted 
to  this  practice  who  have  evinced  a  predilection  for  our  Church  and 
forms  of  worship,  and  who  are  not  unwilling  to  receive  the  word  of  ad 
monition  from  us.  Such  we  would  earnestly  exhort  to  consider  in  the 
most  serious  manner  the  consequences  of  the  course  they  are  pursuing, 
and  the  awful  lessons  which  the  experience  of  the  world  is  every  day 
exhibiting  on  this  subject.  But  it  is  our  duty  further  to  testify,  that  all 
encouragement  of  lotteries  and  purchasing  of  lottery-tickets,  all  attend 
ance  on  horse-racing,  and  betting  on  such,  or  any  other  occasions,  and 
all  attempts,  of  whatever  kind,  to  acquire  gain  without  giving  an  equi 
valent,  involve  the  gambling  principle,  and  participate  in  the  guilt  which 
attaches  to  that  vice." — Minutes,  1818,  p.  690. 

2.  Lotteries  discountenanced. 

"The  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  subject  of  Lotteries  was  taken 
up  and  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  That  although  so  often  sanctioned  by  legislative  acts ;  although  the 
proceeds  of  lotteries  have  not  unfrequently  been  appropriated  to  benevo 
lent  and  religious  objects;  although  many  wise  and  good  men  have  in 


DUELLING.  265 

periods  past,  by  their  participation  or  agency,  given  countenance  to  lot 
teries,  yet  your  committee  cannot  view  them  in  any  other  light  than  that 
of  legalized  gambling. 

"  It  would  require  volumes  to  record  all  the  evils  resulting  from  this 
system  of  predatory  speculation.  It  adds  nothing  to  the  wealth  of  the 
community.  It  too  often  takes  from  the  uninformed  poor  the  property 
obtained  by  labor  and  skill,  and  transfers  the  same,  without  the  least 
equivalent,  into  the  hands  of  the  idle  and  unworthy.  It  thus  becomes 
the  means  of  introducing  and  extending  habits  of  gambling  in  all  forms. 
Hundreds  of  families  yearly  are  reduced  to  dependence  and  beggary,  and 
not  unfrequently  its  deluded  victims  terminate  their  miserable  existence 
in  this  world  by  suicide.  Contemplating  this  multitude  of  evils  to  indi 
viduals,  to  families,  and  to  the  community  at  large,  your  committee  beg 
leave  to  submit  the  following  resolutions  : 

"  1.  Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  General  Assembly,  all  lot 
teries  should  be  discountenanced  by  every  professed  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  as  immoral  in  their  nature,  and  ruinous  in  their 
effects  upon  individual  character  and  the  public  welfare. 

"2.  That  the  purchase  and  sale  of  lottery-tickets  should  be  avoided 
by  every  member  of  our  Church,  even  when  the  professed  object  of  the 
lottery  may  be  praiseworthy,  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  allowable  to  do  evil 
that  good  may  come. 

"3.  That  all  the  Presbyteries  under  the  care  of  this  General  Assem 
bly  be,  and  they  hereby  are  recommended  to  take  order  on  the  subject 
of  lottery  gambling,  to  press  the  consideration  of  it  and  its  attendant 
evils  upon  ministers  and  Sessions,  and  to  adopt  such  plans  of  operation 
as  may  free  the  Church  from  all  participation  in  this  sin,  enlighten, 
arouse,  and  direct  public  opinion,  and  save  our  country  from  this  and 
every  other  species  of  gambling." — Minutes,  1830,  p.  306. 


SECTION  6. — ON  DUELLING. 

Duellists  excluded  from  Church  Privileges,  and  Ministers  recommended 
to  refuse  attendance  on  the  Funeral  of  a  fallen  Duellist. 

"  The  General  Assembly,  having  taken  into  serious  consideration  the 
unhappy  prevalence  of  the  practice  of  duelling  in  the  United  States,  and 
being  anxiously  desirous  to  contribute  what  may  be  in  their  power,  con- 


266  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

sistently  with  their  character  and  situation,  to  discountenance  and  abolish 
this  practice — 

"Resolved  unanimously,  That  they  do,  in  the  most  unequivocal  man 
ner,  declare  their  utter  abhorrence  of  the  practice  of  duelling  and  of  all 
measures  tending  thereto,  as  originating  from  the  malevolent  dispositions 
of  the  human  heart,  and  a  false  sense  of  honor;  as  a  remnant  of  Gothic 
barbarism ;  as  implying  a  presumptuous  and  highly  criminal  appeal  to 
God  as  the  Sovereign  Judge;  as  utterly  inconsistent  with  every  just 
principle  of  moral  conduct;  as  a  direct  violation  of  the  sixth  command 
ment,  and  destructive  of  the  peace  and  happiness  of  families;  and  the 
Assembly  do  hereby  recommend  it  to  the  ministers  in  their  connection 
to  discountenance,  by  all  proper  means  in  their  power,  this  scandalous 
practice. 

"  Resolved  also,  That  it  be,  and  it  is  hereby  recommended  to  all  the 
ministers  under  the  care  of  the  Assembly,  that  they  scrupulously  refuse 
to  attend  the  funeral  of  any  person  who  shall  have  fallen  in  a  duel ;  and 
that  they  admit  no  person,  who  shall  have  fought  a  duel,  given  or 
accepted  a  challenge,  or  been  accessary  thereto,  unto  the  distinguishing 
privileges  of  the  Church,  until  he  manifest  a  just  sense  of  his  guilt,  and 
give  satisfactory  evidence  of  repentance." — Minutes,  1805,  p.  339. 


SECTION  7. — ON  SLAVERY. 

1.  First  notice  of  the  matter  in  Synod,  1774. — 2.  Action  of  the  Synod,  1787. — 3. 
Overture  on  communion  with  slaveholders,  1795,  1840. — 4.  Deliverance  of  the 
Assembly  of  1815. — 5.  Overture  on  selling  a  slave,  a  member  of  the  Church,  and 
deliverance  of  the  Assembly  of  1818. — 6.  Indefinitely  postponed,  1836. — 7.  Re 
ferred  to  the  lower  judicatories,  1839,  1843. — 8.  Declaration  of  the  Assembly, 
1840. — 9.  Action  of  1849. — 10.  Slaveholding  declared  to  be  an  offence,  1850. — 
11.  Information  asked  for  from  the  Southern  churches,  1853. — 12.  Committee 
appointed  to  report  on  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  Assembly  on  the  subject 
of  slaveholding,  1855. — 13.  Report  of  the  committee,  185C. — 14.  Deliverance  of 
the  Assembly  at  Cleveland,  1857. — 15.  The  Assembly  refuses  to  instruct  the 
Church  Extension  Committee  not  to  assist  a  church  having  slaveholders  in  its 
communion,  1860. 

1.    FIRST  NOTICE  or  THE  MATTER  IN   SYNOD,  A.D.  1774. 

"  A  representation  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ezra  Stiles  and  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Hopkins,  respecting  the  sending  two  natives  of  Africa  on  a  mission  to 


SLAVERY.  267 

propagate  Christianity  in  their  native  country,  and  a  request  that  the 
Synod  would  countenance  this  undertaking  by  their  approbation  of  it, 
•was  brought  in  and  read.  The  consideration  of  the  above  deferred." — 
— Minutes,  1774,  p.  456. 

"  The  representation  and  request  relative  to  sending  negro  mission 
aries  to  Africa  was  taken  into  consideration,  in  consequence  of  which 
the  subject  of  negro  slavery  came  to  be  considered,  and,  after  much 
reasoning  on  the  matter,  Dr.  Rodgers,  Messrs.  John  Miller,  Caldwell, 
and  Montgomery  were  appointed  a  committee  to  bring  in  an  overture  on 
Wednesday  morning/' — Ib.  p.  456. 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  an  overture  on  the  representa 
tion  from  Dr.  Stiles  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins,  and  also  on  the 
subject  of  negro  slavery,  brought  in  a  draught,  the  first  part  of  which 
being  read  and  amended,  was  approved,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"The  Synod' is  very  happy  to  have  an  opportunity  to  express  their 
readiness  to  concur  with  and  assist  in  a  mission  to  the  African  tribes, 
and  especially  where  so  many  circumstances  concur,  as  in  the  present 
case,  to  intimate  that  it  is  the  will  of  God,  and  to  encourage  us  to  hope 
for  success.  We  assure  the  gentlemen  aforesaid  that  we  are  ready  to 
do  all  that  is  proper  for  us  in  our  station  for  their  encouragement  and 
assistance. 

"  But  some  difficulties  attending  the  discussion  of  the  second  part  of 
that  overture,  the  Synod  agree  to  defer  the  affair  to  our  next  meeting." 
— Minutes,  1774,  p.  458. 

2.  ACTION  IN  SYNOD,  A.D.  1787. 

"  The  following  was  brought  in  by  the  Committee  of  Overtures  : 
"  The  Creator  of  the  world  having  made  of  one  flesh  all  the  children 
of  men,  it  becomes  them,  as  members  of  the  same  family,  to  consult  and 
promote  each  other's  happiness.  It  is  more  especially  the  duty  of  those 
who  maintain  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  who  acknowledge  and  teach 
the  obligations  of  Christianity,  to  use  such  means  as  are  in  their  power 
to  extend  the  blessings  of  equal  freedom  to  every  part  of  the  human 
race. 

"  From  a  full  conviction  of  these  truths,  and  sensible  that  the  rights 
of  human  nature  are  too  well  understood  to  admit  of  debate,  overtured, 
that  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  recommend,  in  the  warm 
est  terms,  to  every  member  of  their  body,  and  to  all  the  churches  and 


268  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

families  under  their  care,  to  do  everything  in  their  power,  consistent 
with  the  rights  of  civil  society,  to  promote  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and 
the  instruction  of  negroes,  whether  bond  or  free. 

"  The  Synod,  taking  into  consideration  the  overture  concerning  slavery, 
transmitted  by  the  Committee  of  Overtures  last  Saturday,  came  to  the 
following  judgment : 

"  The  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  do  highly  approve  of  the 
general  principles  in  favor  of  universal  liberty  that  prevail  in  America, 
and  the  interest  which  many  of  the  States  have  taken  in  promoting  the 
abolition  of  slavery;  yet,  inasmuch  as  men  introduced  from  a  servile 
state  to  a  participation  of  all  the  privileges  of  civil  society,  without  a 
proper  education,  and  without  previous  habits  of  industry,  may  be,  in 
many  respects,  dangerous  to  the  community,  therefore  they  earnestly 
recommend  it  to  all  the  members  belonging  to  their  communion  to  give 
those  persons,  who  are  at  present  held  in  servitude,  sucltgood  education 
as  to  prepare  them  for  the  better  enjoyment  of  freedom ;  and  they  more 
over  recommend  that  masters,  wherever  they  find  servants  disposed  to 
make  a  just  improvement  of  the  privileges,  would  give  them  a  peculium, 
or  grant  them  sufficient  time  and  sufficient  means  of  procuring  their  own 
liberty  at  a  moderate  rate,  that  thereby  they  may  be  brought  into  society 
with  those  habits  of  industry  that  may  render  them  useful  citizens  ;  and, 
finally,  they  recommend  it  to  all  their  people  to  use  the  most  prudent 
measures,  consistent  with  the  interest  and  state  of  civil  society,  in  the 
counties  where  they  live,  to  procure  eventually  the  final  abolition  of 
slavery  in  America/' — Minutes,  1787,  pp.  539,  540. 

"Ordered,  That  the  records  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  year  1787, 
on  the  subject  of  slavery,  be  published  among  the  extracts  to  be  printed 
of  the  proceedings  of  this  Assembly." — Minutes,  1793,  p.  76. 

3.   SESSIONS  AT   CARLISLE,  A.D.  1795. 

Communion  with  Slaveholders. 

a.  "  The  following  overture  was  brought  in  by  the  Committee  on  Bills 
and  Overtures,  viz.  : 

u  A  serious  and  conscientious  person,  a  member  of  a  Presbyterian 
congregation,  who  views  the  slavery  of  the  negroes  as  a  moral  evil,  highly 
offensive  to  God  and  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  Gospel,  lives  under 
the  ministry  of  a  person,  or  amongst  a  society  of  people,  who  concur 


SLAVERY.  269 

with  him  in  sentiment  on  the  subject  upon  general  principles,  yet  for 
particular  reasons  hold  slaves  and  tolerate  the  practice  in  others.  Over- 
tured,  Ought  the  former  of  these  persons,  under  the  impressions  and 
circumstances  above  described,  to  hold  communion  with  the  latter? 

"  Whereupon,  after  due  deliberation,  it  was 

"Resolved,  That,  as  the  same  difference  of  opinion  with  respect  to 
slavery  takes  place  in  sundry  other  parts  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
notwithstanding  which  they  live  in  charity  and  peace  according  to  the 
doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Apostles,  it  is  hereby  recommended  to  all 
conscientious  persons,  and  especially  to  those  whom  it  immediately 
respects,  to  do  the  same. 

"  At  the  same  time,  the  General  Assembly  assure  all  the  churches 
under  their  care  that  they  view  with  the  deepest  concern  anv  vestiges 
of  slavery  which  may  exist  in  our  country,  and  refer  the  churches  to  the 
records  of  the  General  Assembly  published  at  different  times,  but  espe 
cially  to  an  overture  of  the  late  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
published  in  1787,  and  republished  among  the  extracts  from  the  Minutes 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  1793,  on  that  head,  with  which  we  trust 
every  conscientious  person  will  be  fully  satisfied. 

"  Resolved ,  That  Mr.  Ptice  and  Dr.  Muir,  ministers,  and  Mr.  Robert 
Patterson,  an  elder,  be  a  committee  to  draught  a  letter  to  the  Presbytery 
of  Transylvania  on  the  subject  of  the  above  overture,  and  report  in  the 
afternoon. 

u  The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  draught  of  a  letter  to  the 
Presbytery  of  Transylvania  reported  a  draught,  which  being  read  and 
debated  for  some  time,  a  motion  was  made,  Shall  this  draught  of  a  letter 
be  read  and  debated  by  paragraphs,  or  not  ?  The  vote  being  taken,  the 
question  was  carried  in  the  affirmative.  The  consideration  of  the  draught 
was  resumed ;  and,  after  a  very  considerable  time  spent  therein,  it  was 
amended  and  adopted,  and  ordered  to  be  signed  and  sent  to  the  Presby 
tery  of  Transylvania  by  their  commissioners.  As  follows  : 

"  To  our  brethren,  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  under  the  care 
of  the  Transylvania  Presbytery  : 

"DEAR  FRIENDS  AND  BRETHREN:  The  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  hear  with  concern  from  your  commissioners  that 
differences  of  opinion  with  respect  to  holding  Christian  communion  with 
those  possessed  of  slaves  agitate  the  minds  of  some  among  you,  and 
threaten  divisions,  which  may  have  a  most  ruinous  tendency.  The  sub- 


270  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

ject  of  slavery  has  repeatedly  claimed  the  attention  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and  the  commissioners  from  the  Presbytery  of  Transylvania 
are  furnished  with  attested  copies  of  these  decisions,  to  be  read  by  the 
Presbytery  when  it  shall  appear  to  them  proper,  together  with  a  copy  of 
this  letter  to  the  several  churches  under  their  care. 

"  The  General  Assembly  have  taken  every  step  which  they  deemed 
expedient  or  wise  to  encourage  emancipation,  and  to  render  the  state  of 
those  who  are  in  slavery  as  mild  and  tolerable  as  possible. 

"  Forbearance  and  peace  are  frequently  inculcated  in  the  New  Testa 
ment.  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers.  Let  no  one  do  anything  through 
strife  and  vain-glory.  Let  each  esteem  others  better  than  himself.  The 
followers  of  Jesus  ought  conscientiously  to  walk  worthy  of  their  vocation, 
with  all  lowliness  and  meekness,  with  long-suffering  forbearing  one 
another,  and  endeavoring  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of 
peace.  If  every  difference  of  opinion  were  to  keep  men  at  a  distance, 
they  could  subsist  in  no  state  of  society,  civil  or  religious.  The  General 
Assembly  would  impress  this  upon  the  minds  of  their  brethren,  arid  urge 
them  to  follow  peace  and  the  things  which  make  for  peace. 

"The  General  Assembly  commend  our  dear  friends  and  brethren  to 
the  grace  of  God,  praying  that  the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all 
understanding,  may  possess  their  hearts  and  minds. 

"  Signed  by  order  of  the  Assembly." — Minutes,  1795,  pp.  103,  104. 

I).  "Whereas,  it  appears  from  memorials  sent  up  to  this  Assembly, 
that  several  of  our  Presbyteries  have  adopted  resolutions  excluding 
slaveholders  from  their  pulpits  and  from  their  communion ;  and  whereas 
our  Constitution  requires  that  no  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
shall  be  thus  disfranchised  without  a  regular  trial  and  conviction ;  and 
whereas  this  proceeding  is  a  repetition  of  the  exscinding  acts  of  the  New 
13asis  Assembly,  against  which  we  have  taken  our  stand  as  the  friends 
of  the  Constitution  :  therefore, 

"Resolved^  That  the  said  Presbyteries  be  requested  to  rescind  such 
resolutions. 

"  The  foregoing  resolution  was,  with  one  dissenting  voice,  adopted." — 
Minutes,  1840,  p.  24. 
t 

4.   SESSIONS  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  A.D.  1815. 

"The  committee  to  which  was  committed  the  report  of  the  committee 
to  which  the  petition  of  some  elders  who  entertain  conscientious  scruples 


SLAVERY.  271 

on  the  subject  of  holding  slaves,  together  with  that  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio 
concerning  the  buying  and  selling  of  slaves,  had  been  referred,  reported; 
and  their  report,  being  read  and  amended,  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  The  General  Assembly  have  repeatedly  declared  their  cordial  appro 
bation  of  those  principles  of  civil  liberty  which  appear  to  be  recognized 
by  the  Federal  and  State  Governments  in  these  United  States.  They 
have  expressed  their  regret  that  the  slavery  of  the  Africans  and  of  their 
descendants  still  continues  in  so  many  places,  and  even  among  those 
within  the  pale  of  the  Church,  and  have  urged  the  Presbyteries  under 
their  care  to  adopt  such  measures  as  will  secure,  at  least  to  the  rising 
generation  of  slaves  within  the  bounds  of  the  Church,  a  religious  educa 
tion,  that  they  may  be  prepared  for  the  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  liberty 
when  God  in  his  providence  may  open  a  door  for  their  emancipation. 
The  committee  refer  said  petitioners  to  the  printed  extracts  of  the  Synod 
of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  for  the  year  1787,  on  this  subject,  re- 
published  by  the  Assembly  in  1793,  and  also  to  the  Extracts  of  the 
Minutes  of  the  Assembly  for  1795,  which  last  are  in  the  following  words, 
viz. : 

"A  serious  and  conscientious  person,  a  member  of  a  Presbyterian 
congregation,  who  views  the  slavery  of  the  negroes  as  a  moral  evil, 
highly  offensive  to  God  and  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  Gospel,  lives 
under  the  ministry  of  a  person,  or  amongst  a  society  of  people,  who 
concur  with  him  in  sentiment  on  the  subject  upon  general  principles, 
yet  for  particular  reasons  hold  slaves  and  tolerate  the  practice  in  others. 
Overtured,  Ought  the  former  of  these  persons,  under  the  impressions 
and  circumstances  above  described,  to  hold  communion  with  the  latter  ? 

"  Whereupon,  after  due  deliberation,  it  was 

"Resolved,  That,  as  the  same  difference  of  opinion  with  respect  to 
slavery  takes  place  in  sundry  other  parts  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
notwithstanding  which  they  live  in  charity  and  peace  according  to  the 
doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Apostles,  it  is  hereby  recommended  to  all 
conscientious  persons,  and  especially  to  those  whom  it  immediately 
respects,  to  do  the  same. 

"This  is  deemed  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  first  petition;  and,  with 
regard  to  the  second,  the  Assembly  observe  that,  although  in  some  sec 
tions  of  our  country,  under  certain  circumstances,  the  transfer  of  slaves 
may  be  unavoidable,  yet  they  consider  the  buying  and  selling  of  slaves 
by  way  of  traffic,  and  all  undue  severity  in  the  management  of  them,  as 
inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  And  they  recommend  it  to 


272  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

the  Presbyteries  and  Sessions  under  their  care  to  make  use  of  all  prudent 
measures  to  prevent  such  shameful  and  unrighteous  conduct/7 — Minutes, 
1815,  p.  586. 

5.    SESSIONS  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  A.D.  1818. 
Overture  on  Selling  a  Slave,  a  Member  of  the  Church. 

"  The  following  resolution  was  submitted  to  the  Assembly,  viz.  : 

"  Resolved,  That  a  person  who  shall  sell  as  a  slave  a  member  of  the 
Church,  who  shall  be  at  the  time  of  sale  in  good  standing  and  unwilling 
to  be  sold,  acts  inconsistently  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  ought 
to  be  debarred  from  the  communion  of  the  Church. 

"  After  considerable  discussion,  the  subject  was  committed  to  Dr. 
Green,  Dr.  Baxter,  and  Mr.  Burgess,  to  prepare  a  report  to  be  adopted 
by  the  Assembly,  embracing  the  object  of  the  above  resolution,  and  also 
expressing  the  opinion  of  the  Assembly  in  general  as  to  slavery. 

[The  report  of  the  committee]  "being  read,  was  unanimously 
adopted,  and  referred  to  the  same  committee  for  publication.  It  is  as 
follows,  viz. : 

"The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  having  taken 
into  consideration  the  subject  of  slavery,  think  proper  to  make  known 
their  sentiments  upon  it  to  the  churches  and  people  under  their  care. 

"  We  consider  the  voluntary  enslaving  of  one  part  of  the  human  race 
by  another  as  a  gross  violation  of  the  most  precious  and  sacred  rights 
of  human  nature,  as  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  law  of  God,  which  re 
quires  us  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves,  and  as  totally  irreconcilable 
with  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  which  enjoin  that 
'  all  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even 
so  to  them/  Slavery  creates  a  paradox  in  the  moral  system  :  it  exhibits 
rational,  accountable,  and  immortal  beings  in  such  circumstances  as 
scarcely  to  leave  them  the  power  of  moral  action.  It  exhibits  them  as 
dependent  on  the  will  of  others  whether  they  shall  receive  religious  in 
struction  •  whether  they  shall  know  and  worship  the  true  God ;  whether 
they  shall  enjoy  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel ;  whether  they  shall  per 
form  the  duties  and  cherish  the  endearments  of  husbands  and  wives, 
parents  and  children,  neighbors  and  friends ;  whether  they  shall  preserve 
their  chastity  and  purity,  or  regard  the  dictates  of  justice  and  humanity. 
Such  are  some  of  the  consequences  of  slavery, — consequences  not  imagi 
nary,  but  which  connect  themselves  with  its  very  existence.  The  evils  to 


SLAVERY.  273 

which  the  slave  is  always  exposed  often  take  place  in  fact,  and  in  their 
very  worst  degree  and  form  :  and  where  all  of  them  do  not  take  place — 
as,  we  rejoice  to  say,  in  many  instances,  through  the  influence  of  the 
principles  of  humanity  and  religion  on  the  mind  of  masters,  they  do 
not — still,  the  slave  is  deprived  of  his  natural  right,  degraded  as  a  human 
being,  and  exposed  to  the  danger  of  passing  into  the  hands  of  a  master 
who  may  inflict  upon  him  all  the  hardships  and  injuries  which  inhu 
manity  and  avarice  may  suggest. 

"From  this  viewof  the  consequences  resulting  from  the  practice  into 
which  Christian  people  have  most  inconsistently  fallen,  of  enslaving  a 
portion  of  their  brethren  of  mankind, — for  '  God  hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth/ — it  is  mani 
festly  the  duty  of  all  Christians  who  enjoy  the  light  of  the  present  day, 
when  the  inconsistency  of  slavery  both  with  the  dictates  of  humanity 
and  religion  has  been  demonstrated,  and  is  generally  seen  and  acknow 
ledged,  to  use  their  honest,  earnest,  and  unwearied  endeavors  to  correct 
the  errors  of  former  times,  and  as  speedily  as  possible  to  efface  this  blot 
on  our  holy  religion,  and  to  obtain  the  complete  abolition  of  slavery 
throughout  Christendom,  and,  if  possible,  throughout  the  world. 

"We  rejoice  that  the  Church  to  which  we  belong  commenced  as 
early  as  any  other  in  this  country  the  good  work  of  endeavoring  to  put 
an  end  to  slavery,  and  that  in  the  same  work  many  of  its  members  have 
ever  since  been,  and  now  are,  among  the  most  active,  vigorous,  and  effi 
cient  laborers.  We  do,  indeed,  tenderly  sympathize  with  those  portions 
of  our  Church  and  our  country  where  the  evil  of  slavery  has  been  entailed 
upon  them, — where  a  great,  and  the  most  virtuous,  part  of  the  commu 
nity  abhor  slavery,  and  wish  its  extermination  as  sincerely  as  any 
others, — but  where  the  number  of  slaves,  their  ignorance,  and  their 
vicious  habits  generally,  render  an  immediate  and  universal  emancipa 
tion  inconsistent  alike  with  the  safety  and  happiness  of  the  master  and 
the  slave.  With  those  who  are  thus  circumstanced,  we  repeat  that  we 
tenderly  sympathize.  At  the  same  time,  we  earnestly  exhort  them  to 
continue,  and,  if  possible,  to  increase,  their  exertions  to  effect  a  total 
abolition  of  slavery.  We  exhort  them  to  suffer  no  greater  delay  of  sla 
very.  We  hope  that  those  portions  of  the  American  Union  whose  inha 
bitants  are  by  a  gracious  Providence  more  favorably  circumstanced,  will 
cordially  and  liberally  and  earnestly  co-operate  with  their  brethren  in 
bringing  about  the  great  end  contemplated. 

"  We  recommend  to  all  the  members  of  our  religious  denomination, 

18 


274  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

not  only  to  permit,  but  to  facilitate  and  encourage,  the  instruction  of 
their  slaves  in  the  principles  and  duties  of  the  Christian  religion,  by 
granting  them  liberty  to  attend  on  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  when 
they  have  opportunity,  by  favoring  the  instruction  of  them  in  the  Sab 
bath-school,  wherever  those  schools  can  be  formed,  and  by  giving  them 
all  other  proper  advantages  for  acquiring  the  knowledge  of  their  duty 
both  to  God  and  to  man.  We  are  perfectly  satisfied  that  it  is  incumbent 
on  all  Christians  to  communicate  religious  instruction  to  those  who  are 
under  their  authority;  so  that  the  doing  of  this,  ill  the  case  before  us, 
so  far  from  operating,  as  some  have  apprehended  that  it  might,  as  an 
incitement  to  insubordination  and  insurrection,  would,  on  the  contrary, 
operate  as  the  most  powerful  means  for  the  prevention  of  those  evils. 

"  We  enjoin  it  on  all  church  Sessions  and  Presbyteries  under  the  care 
of  this  Assembly  to  discountenance  and,  as  far  as  possible,  to  prevent 
all  cruelty,  of  whatever  kind,  in  the  treatment  of  slaves,  especially  the 
cruelty  of  separating  husband  and  wife,  parents  and  children,  and  that 
which  consists  in  selling  slaves  to  those  who  will  either  themselves  de 
prive  these  unhappy  people  of  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel,  or  who  will 
transport  them  to  places  where  the  Gospel  is  not  proclaimed,  or  where  it 
is  forbidden  to  slaves  to  attend  upon  its  institutions.  And  if  it  shall 
ever  happen  that  a  Christian  professor  in  our  communion  shall  sell  a 
slave  who  is  also  in  communion  and  good  standing  with  our  Church, 
contrary  to  his  or  her  will  and  inclination,  it  ought  immediately  to  claim 
the  particular  attention  of  the  proper  church  judicature;  and,  unless 
there  be  such  peculiar  circumstances  attending  the  case  as  can  but  sel 
dom  happen,  it  ought  to  be  followed  without  delay  by  a  suspension  of 
the  offender  from  all  the  privileges  of  the  Church  till  he  repent  and 
make  all  the  reparation  in  his  power  to  the  injured  party. 

"  Resolved,  That  fifteen  hundred  copies  of  this  report  be  printed  or 
published  in  the  newspapers." — Minutes,  1818,  pp.  692-694. 


SESSIONS  AT  PITTSBURG,  A.D.  1836. 

6.  Indefinitely  Postponed. 

u  The  Assembly  resumed  the  subject  of  slavery. 
"  The  following  motion  was  made  by  Dr.  Hoge : 
a  Inasmuch  as  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  its 
preliminary  and  fundamental  principles,  declares  that  no  Church  judica- 


SLAVERY.  275 

tory  ought  to  pretend  to  make  laws  to  bind  the  conscience,  in  virtue  of 
their  own  authority;  and  as  the  urgency  of  the  business  of  the  Assem 
bly,  and  the  shortness  of  the  time  during  which  they  can  continue  in 
session,  render  it  impossible  to  deliberate  and  decide  judiciously  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  in  its  relations  to  the  Church  :  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  this  whole  subject  be  indefinitely  postponed. 

"  Adopted.     Yeas,  154;  Nays,  87."— Minutes,  1836,  p.  272. 


SESSIONS  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  A.D.  1839. 

7.  Referred  to  the  Lower  Judicatories. 

"  Whereas,  certain  memorials  have  been  sent  up  to  this  Assembly 
from  several  Presbyteries  desiring  some  action  on  the  subject  of  slavery; 
and  whereas,  these  memorials  have  been  read  and  freely  discussed  by 
this  body ;  and  whereas,  this  Assembly  is  made  up  of  members  from 
different  portions  of  our  extended  country,  who  honestly  differ  in  opi 
nion,  as  well  in  regard  to  the  propriety  as  the  nature  of  the  ecclesiastical 
action  desired  in  the  case  :  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  does  most  solemnly  refer  to  the  lower 
Judicatories  the  subject  of  slavery,  leaving  it  to  them  to  take  such  order 
thereon  as  in  their  judgment  will  be  most  judicious,  and  adapted  to  re 
move  the  evil/7— Minutes,  1839,  p.  22. 

SESSIONS  AT   PHILADELPHIA,  A.D.  1840. 

In  1840,  the  whole  subject  was  indefinitely  postponed. — Minutes, 
pp.  18,  19. 


SESSIONS  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  A.D.  1843. 

"  Whereas,  there  is  in  this  Assembly  great  diversity  of  opinion  as  to 
the  proper  and  best  mode  of  action  on  the  subject  of  slavery;  and 
whereas,  in  such  circumstances,  any  expression  of  sentiment  would  carry 
with  it  but  little  weight,  as  it  would  be  passed  by  a  small  majority,  and 
must  operate  to  produce  alienation  and  division ;  and  whereas,  the  As 
sembly  of  1839,  with  great  unanimity,  referred  this  whole  subject  to  the 


276  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

lower  judicatories,  to  take  such  order  as  in  their  judgment  might  be 
adapted  to  remove  the  evil : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  do  not  think  it  for  the  edification  of 
the  Church  for  this  body  to  take  any  action  on  the  subject. 

"Passed.     Yeas,  66;  Nays,  33."— Minutes,  1843,  p.  19. 


SESSIONS  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  A.D.  1846. 

8.  Declaration  of  the  General  Assembly  on  the  subject  of  Slavery. 

"1.  The  S}rstem  of  slavery,  as  it  exists  in  the  United  States,  viewed 
either  in  the  laws  of  the  several  States  which  sanction  it,  or  in  the  actual 
operation  and  results  in  society,  is  intrinsically  an  unrighteous  and  op 
pressive  system,  and  is  opposed  to  the  prescription  of  the  law  of  God, 
to  the  spirit  and  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  the  best  interests  of 
humanity. 

"  2.  The  testimony  of  the  General  Assembly,  from  A.D.  1787  to  1818 
inclusive,  has  condemned  it ;  and  it  remains  still  the  recorded  testimony 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  these  United  States- against  it,  from  which 
we  do  not  recede. 

"  3.  We  cannot,  therefore,  withhold  the  expression  of  our  deep  regret 
that  slavery  should  be  continued  and  countenanced  by  any  of  the  mem 
bers  of  our  churches;  and  we  do  earnestly  exhort  both  them  and  the 
churches  among  whom  it  exists  to  use  all  means  in  their  power  to  put  it 
away  from  them.  Its  perpetuation  among  them  cannot  fail  to  be  re 
garded  by  multitudes,  influenced  by  their  example,  as  sanctioning  the 
system  portrayed  in  and  maintained  by  the  statutes  of  the  several  slave- 
holding  States  wherein  they  dwell.  Nor  can  any  mere  mitigation  of  its 
severity,  prompted  by  the  humanity  and  Christian  feeling  of  any  indi 
viduals  who  continue  to  hold  their  fellow-men  in  such  bondage,  be  re 
garded  either  as  a  testimony  against  the  system,  or  as  in  the  least  degree 
changing  its  essential  character. 

"  4.  But  while  we  believe  that  many  evils  incident  to  the  system 
render  it  important  and  obligatory  to  bear  testimony  against  it,  yet  would 
we  not  undertake  to  determine  the  degree  of  moral  turpitude  on  the  part 
of  individuals  involved  by  it.  This  will  doubtless  be  found  to  vary  in 
the  sight  of  God,  according  to  the  degree  of  light  and  other  circum 
stances  pertaining  to  each.  In  view  of  all  the  embarrassments  and  ob 
stacles  in  the  way  of  emancipation  interposed  by  the  statutes  of  the 


SLAVERY.  277 

slaveholding  States  and  by  the  social  influence  affecting  the  views  and 
conduct  of  those  involved  in  it,  we  cannot  pronounce  a  judgment  of 
general  and  promiscuous  condemnation,  implying  that  destitution  of 
Christian  principle  and  feeling  which  should  exclude  from  the  table  of 
the  Lord  all  who  stand  in  the  legal  relation  of  masters  to  slaves,  or  jus 
tify  us  in  withholding  our  ecclesiastical  and  Christian  fellowship  from 
them.  We  rather  sympathize  with,  ancj^vould  seek  to  succor  them  in 
their  embarrassments,  believing  that  separation  and  secession  among  the 
churches  and  their  members  are  not  the  methods  that  God  approves  and 
sanctions  for  the  reformation  of  his  Church. 

"  5.  While,  therefore,  we  feel  bound  to  bear  our  testimony  against 
slavery,  and  to  exhort  our  beloved  brethren  to  remove  it  from  them  as 
speedily  as  possible,  by  all  appropriate  and  available  means,  we  do  at  the 
same  time  condemn  all  divisive  and  schismatical  measures,  tending  to 
destroy  the  unity  and  disturb  the  peace  of  our  churches,  and  deprecate 
the  spirit  of  denunciation,  and  that  unfeeling  severity,  which  would  cast 
from  the  fold  those  whom  we  are  rather  bound  by  the  spirit  of  the  Gos 
pel  and  the  obligations  of  our  covenant  to  instruct,  to  counsel,  exhort, 
and  try  to  lead  in  the  ways  of  God,  and  towards  whom,  even  though 
they  may  err,  to  exercise  forbearance  and  brotherly  love. 

"  6.  As  a  court  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  we  possess  no  legislative 
authority,  and  as  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  we 
possess  no  judiciary  power.  We  have  no  right  to  institute  and  prescribe 
tests  of  Christian  character  and  church  membership  not  recognized  and 
sanctioned  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures  and  in  our  standards  by  which  we 
have  agreed  to  walk.  We  must,  therefore,  leave  this  matter  with  the 
Sessions  and  Presbyteries  and  Synods — the  judicatories  to  whom  pertains 
the  right  of  judgment — to  act  in  the  administration  of  discipline  as  they 
may  judge  it  to  be  their  duty,  constitutionally  subject  to  the  General 
Assembly  only  in  the  way  of  general  review  and  control. 

"[Yeas,  92 ;  Nays,  29;  non  liquet,  3.]"— -Minutes,  1846,  pp.  28-30. 

9.  SESSIONS  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  A.D.  1849. 

"  The  committee  to  whose  consideration  were  submitted  sundry  papers 
on  the  subject  of  slavery  now  present  to  the  Assembly  the  following 
report,  consisting  of  preamble  and  resolutions : 

"These  documents  are  nineteen  in  number,  embracing  memorials 
from  four  Synods,  thirteen  Presbyteries,  one  church,  and  one  from 


2/0  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

certain  individuals.  The  object  of  these  papers  is  one  and  the  same, 
namely,  to  free  the  Presbyterian  Church  from  all  participation  and  con 
nection  with  slaveholding.  The  measures  proposed  are  various, — some 
more  and  some  less  stringent.  Some  ask  for  discipline,  others  for  a 
pastoral  letter,  a  third  class  for  separation  from  the  evil  complained  of, 
without  denning  the  mode ;  one  proposes  the  reorganization  of  the  Churcli 
to  which  we  belong  into  three  General  Assemblies ;  one  threatens  seces 
sion  if  something  is  not  done;  and  others  ask  for  nothing  definite. 
While  these  voluminous  papers  furnish  a  considerable  variety  as  to  tone 
and  manner  and  intimations  as  to  the  future,  and  likewise  as  to  a  know 
ledge  of  the  intrinsic  difficulties  attending  this  complicated  evil,  they 
are  sufficiently  respectful  in  their  language  and  grave  and  weighty  in 
their  opinions  and  arguments  to  demand  the  wise  and  prayerful  con 
sideration  of  this  Assembly.  This  consideration  we  believe  we  may  say, 
without  boasting  or  arrogance,  they  have  received  from  your  committee  ; 
and  we  have  a  cheerful  confidence  they  will  now  receive  the  same  from 
this  body. 

"The  subject  is  not  a  new  one  :  it  has  occupied  the  attention  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  from  the  commencement  of  its  organization, — even 
before  the  General  Assembly  had  an  existence ;  and  your  committee  are 
happy  to  avail  themselves  of  the  lights  of  former  times  in  presenting 
this  difficult  matter  to  you,  and  through  you  to  the  judicatories  and 
churches  under  our  care.  Your  committee  would  deprecate  two  errors 
into  which  minds  of  different  and  opposite  structures,  on  this  and  all 
similar  subjects,  are  liable  to  fall.  One  class  forget  that  we  live  in  an 
age  of  progress,  and  the  other  forget  that  the  first  step  in  progress  is  not 
perfection.  In  relation  to  both  of  these  great  truths  here  alluded  to, 
we  should,  as  rational  beings  and  as  Christians,  be  ready  to  obey  the 
intimations  of  Providence,  and  to  follow  the  guidance  of  the  torchlight 
of  truth  which  the  hand  of  God  holds  up  before  us, — to  go  forward  as 
that  goes  onward,  and  to  move  no  faster  than  its  blessed  radiance  is 
shed  upon  our  pathway.  All  theories,  when  they  come  to  put  on  the 
forms  of  experiment,  must  yield  to  the  authority  of  uniform  and  uni 
versal  facts;  and  both  progressives  and  conservatives  might  render 
themselves  much  more  comfortable  as  well  as  useful  in  our  world  if  they 
were  more  deeply  imbued  with  this  one  practical  truth.  These  remarks 
apply  with  great  force  to  all  evils  which  are  interwoven  with  the  very 
texture  of  social  organization ;  and  slavery  is  by  no  means  an  exception. 


SLAVERY.  279 

"  Your  committee  propose  to  embody  the  sentiments  of  this  Assembly, 
in  relation  to  this  evil,  in  the  following  resolutions  : 

'''Resolved,  That  we  reaffirm  the  sentiments  expressed  by  the  Assem 
bly  of  1815,  and  especially  in  the  following  quotations : 

"'The  General*  Assembly  have  repeatedly  declared  their  cordial 
approbation  of  those  principles  of  civil  liberty  which  seem  to  be  recog 
nized  by  the  Federal  and  State  Governments  of  the  United  States. 
They  have  expressed  their  regret  that  the  slavery  of  the  Africans  and 
of  their  descendants  still  continues  in  so  many  places,  and  even  among 
those  within  the  pale  of  the  Church,  and  have  urged  the  Presbyteries 
under  their  care  to  adopt  such  measures  as  will  secure,  at  least  to  the 
rising  generation  of  slaves  within  the  bounds  of  the  Church,  a  religious 
education,  that  they  may  be  prepared  for  the  exercise  and  enjoyment  of 
liberty  when  God  in  his  providence  may  open  a  door  for  their  emanci 
pation/ 

"  Again  :  '  The  General  Assembly  assure  all  the  churches  under  their 
care,  that  they  view  with  the  deepest  concern  any  vestiges  of  slavery 
which  may  exist  in  our  country.' 

"  And  again  :  '  The  Assembly  observe  that,  although  in  some  sections 
of  our  country,  under  certain  circumstances,  the  transfer  of  slaves  may 
be  unavoidable,  yet  they  consider  the  buying  and  selling  of  slaves  by 
way  of  traffic,  and  all  undue  severity  in  the  management  of  them,  as 
inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  And  they  recommend  it  to 
Presbyteries  and  Sessions  under  their  care  to  make  use  of  all  prudent 
measures  to  prevent  such  shameful  and  unrighteous  conduct.'  [See 
ante,  pp.  270,  271.] 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  this  General  Assembly  reaffirms  the  opinions  ex 
pressed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1818.  The  following  extracts  are 
commended  to  special  notice,  viz. : 

"  '  We  consider  the  voluntary  enslaving  of  one  part  of  the  human 
race  by  another  as  a  gross  violation  of  the  most  precious  and  sacred 
rights  of  human  nature,  as  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  law  of  God, 
which  requires  us  to  love  our  neighbors  as  ourselves,  and  as  totally  irre 
concilable  with  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  which 
enjoins, that  "  all  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you, 
do  ye  even  so  to  them."  Slavery  creates  a  paradox  in  the. moral  system: 
it  exhibits  rational,  accountable,  and  immortal  beings  in  such  circum 
stances  as  scarcely  to  leave  them  the  power  of  moral  action.  It  exhibits 
them  as  dependent  on  the  will  of  others  whether  they  shall  receive 


280  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

religious  instruction ;  whether  they  shall  know  and  worship  the  true 
God ;  whether  they  shall  enjoy  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel ;  whether 
they  shall  perform  the  duties  and  cherish  the  endearments  of  husbands 
and  wives,  parents  and  children,  neighbors  and  friends ;  whether  they 
shall  preserve  their  chastity  and  purity,  or  regard  the  dictates  of  justice 
and  humanity.  Such  arc  some  of  the  consequences  of  slavery, — conse 
quences  not  imaginary,  but  which  connect  themselves  with  its  very  ex 
istence.' 

"Again:  'From  this  view  of  the  consequences  resulting  from  the 
practice  into  which  Christian  people  have  most  inconsistently  fallen  of 
enslaving  a  portion  of  their  brethren  of  mankind, — for  "God  hath  made 
of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth," — it 
is  manifestly  the  duty  of  all  Christians  who  enjoy  the  light  of  the  present 
day,  when  the  inconsistency  of  slavery,  both  with  the  dictates  of 
humanity  and  religion,  has  been  demonstrated  and  is  generally  seen  and 
acknowledged,  to  use  their  honest,  earnest,  and  unwavering  efforts  to 
correct  the  errors  of  former  times,  and  as  speedily  as  possible  to  efface 
this  blot  on  our  holy  religion,  and  to  obtain  the  complete  abolition  of 
slavery  throughout  Christendom,  and,  if  possible,  throughout  the  world/ 
[See  ante,  pp.  272,  273.] 

"3.  Resolved,  That  we  reaffirm  the  'declaration  of  the  General  As 
sembly  on  the  subject  of  slavery'  made  in  the  year  1846.  The  following 
sentiments  are  particularly  commended  to  the  serious  and  prayerful 
attention  of  our  judicatories  and  churches,  viz.  : 

"  '  The  system  of  slavery  as  it  exists  in  these  United  States,  viewed 
either  in  the  laws  of  the  several  States  which  sanction  it  or  in  its  actual 
operation  and  results  in  society,  is  intrinsically  an  unrighteous  and 
oppressive  system,  and  is  opposed  to  the  prescriptions  of  the  law  of  God, 
to  the  spirit  and  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  the  best  interests  of 
humanity.' 

"  Again  :  '  But,  while  we  believe  that  many  evils  incident  to  the 
system  render  it  important  and  obligatory  to  bear  testimony  against  it, 
yet  would  we  not  undertake  to  determine  the  degree  of  moral  turpitude 
on  the  part  of  the  individuals  involved  by  it.  This  will  doubtless  be 
found  to  vary  in  the  sight  of  God  according  to  the  degree  of  light  and 
other  circumstances  pertaining  to  each.  In  view  of  all  the  embarrass 
ments  and  obstacles  in  the  way  of  emancipation  interposed  by  the 
statutes  of  the  slaveholding  States,  and  by  the  social  influence  affecting 
the  views  and  conduct  of  those  involved  in  it;  we  cannot  pronounce  a 


SLAVERY.  281 

judgment  of  general  and  promiscuous  condemnation,  implying  that  desti 
tution  of  Christian  principle  and  feeling  which  should  exclude  from  the 
table  of  the  Lord  all  who  stand  in  the  legal  relation  of  master  to  slaves, 
or  justify  us  in  withholding  our  ecclesiastical  and  Christian  fellowship 
from  them.  We  rather  sympathize  with  and  would  seek  to  succor  them 
in  their  embarrassments,  believing  that  separation  and  secession  among 
the  churches  and  their  members  are  not  the  methods  which  God  approves 
and  sanctions  for  the  reformation  of  his  Church/  [See  ante,  pp.  276,  277.] 

"  4.  Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  these  declara 
tions  of  former  General  Assemblies  bear  an  explicit,  frank,  honest,  and 
honorable  testimony  against  the  evils  of  slavery,  and  they  ought  to  be 
<  known  and  read  of  all  men/ 

"  The  following  principles  are  clearly  stated  in  the  documents  above 
referred  to  and  quoted  : 

"  1.  That  civil  liberty  is  the  right  of  man  as  a  rational  and  moral 
being. 

"2.  That  the  institution  of  slavery,  in  the  language  of  a  former 
Assembly,  '  is  intrinsically  an  unrighteous  and  oppressive  system/  and 
injurious  to  the  highest  and  best  interests  of  all  concerned  in  it. 

"3.  That  it  is  l  the  duty  of  all  Christians  who  enjoy  the  light  of  the 
present  day'  ( to  use  their  honest  and  unwearied  endeavors'  '  as  speedily 
as  possible  to  efface  this  blot  on  our  holy  religion,  and  to  obtain  the 
complete  abolition  of  slavery  throughout  Christendom,  and,  if  possible, 
throughout  the  world.'  This  General  Assembly  do  most  solemnly 
exhort  all  under  our  care  to  perform  this  duty,  and  to  be  ever  ready  to 
make  all  necessary  sacrifices  in  order  to  effect  a  consummation  so  much 
to  be  desired. 

"  4.  When  circumstances  over  which  good  men  have  not  the  control 
inevitably  prevent  the  attainment  of  this  ulterior  and  desirable  purpose 
at  once,  there  are  other  and  important  duties  which  cannot  be  neglected 
without  great  guilt,  such  as  a  watchful  care  for  the  interests  of  the  soul, 
direct  religious  instruction,  and  the  communication  of  that  practical 
knowledge  of  life  and  its  objects  which  may  prepare  this  portion  of  our 
fellow-men  for  'the  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  liberty  when  God  in  his 
providence  may  open  a  door  for  their  emancipation/ 

"  5.  There  are  incidental  evils  which  belong  to  this  system,  which, 
when  they  occur  in  the  Church,  should  be  corrected  by  discipline,  such 
as  '  buying  and  selling  of  slaves  by  way  of  traffic,  and  all  undue  severity 
in  the  management  of  them/  To  these  may  be  added  the  breaking  up 


282  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

of  the  family  relationship,  and  separating  husbands  and  wives,  parents 
and  children,  'thus  rendering  it  impossible  for  rational,  moral,  and 
immortal  beings  to  perform  the  duties  and  cherish  the  endearments  of 
social  life.' 

il  All  these  things  are  fairly  and  fully  presented  in  the  declaration  of 
preceding  Assemblies,  and  quite  as  explicitly  before  the  division  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  as  since. 

"  5.  Resolved,  That  while  we  bear  this  testimony  against  the  system 
of  slavery  as  it  exists  in  this  country  and  elsewhere,  and  which  testi 
mony  coincides  with  the  almost  uniform  testimony  of  all  good  men  in 
every  age,  and  especially  with  that  borne  by  the  fathers  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church,  to  which  we  have  herein  referred,  and  while  we  commend 
these  DECLARATIONS  OF  SENTIMENT  to  the  attention  of  all  the  judica- 
tories,  and  all  the  churches  under  our  care,  we  feel  ourselves  bound  to 
add  that  there  has  been  no  information  before  this  Assembly  to  prove 
that  members  of  our  Church  in  the  slave  States  are  not  doing  all  that 
they  can  (situated  as  they  are  in  the  providence  of  God)  to  bring  about 
the  possession  and  enjoyment  of  liberty  by  the  enslaved ;  nor  are  there 
any  facts  before  us  to  show  that  they  are  living  in  the  violation  of  the 
duties  growing  out  of  their  relations  to  slavery,  as  it  is  continued  in 
existence  by  the  laws  of  their  respective  States ;  nor  do  we  know  that 
they  tolerate  any  of  those  evils  which  ought  to  call  forth  the  discipline 
of  the  Church ;  but,  if  there  are  such  cases,  we  would  direct  the  atten 
tion  of  the  proper  judicatories  to  them  in  the  exercise  of  a  kind  and 
salutary  discipline. 

"  Commending  these  views  to  the  consideration  of  all  under  our  care, 
and  especially  of  those  whose  lot  is  cast  where  the  institution  of  slavery 
exists,  and  which  the  smallness  of  their  numbers  forbids  us  to  suppose 
they  have  the  power  of  controlling,  we  leave  this  whole  matter  with  God 
and  the  consciences  of  all  those  who  love  his  blessed  cause/' — Minutes, 
1849,  pp.  185-188. 

10.  SESSIONS  AT  DETROIT,  A.D.  1850. 

[The  committee  report]  "  That  after  a  careful  and  thorough  examina 
tion  of  the  whole  subject,  they  have  been  brought  to  the  conclusion  that, 
in  consideration  of  the  previous  action  of  the  Assembly  had  at  different 
times  for  a  series  of  years,  and  what  they  believe  to  be  its  present  senti 
ments,  and  the  expectations  of  the  churches  in  its  connection,  the  cause 


SLAVERY.  283 

of  truth  and  righteousness,  of  peace  and  unity,  will  be  best  subserved  by 
the  adoption  of  the  following  resolutions  : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  we  exceedingly  deplore  the  working  of  the  whole 
system  of  slavery  as  it  exists  in  our  country,  and  is  interwoven  with  the 
political  institutions  of  the  slaveholding  States,  as  fraught  with  many 
and  great  evils  to  the  civil,  political,  and  moral  interests  of  those  regions 
where  it  exists. 

"Resolved,  2.  That  the  holding  of  our  fellow-men  in  the  condition  of 
slavery,  except  in  those  cases  where  it  is  unavoidable  by  the  laws  of  the 
State,  the  obligations  of  guardianship,  or  the  demands  of  humanity,  is 
an  offence  in  the  proper  import  of  that  term  as  used  in  the  Book  of  Dis 
cipline,  chap,  i,  sec.  3,  and  should  be  regarded  and  treated  in  the  same 
manner  as  other  offences. 

"Resolved,  3.  That  the  Sessions  and  Presbyteries  are,  by  the  Consti 
tution  of  our  Church,  the  courts  of  primary  jurisdiction  for  the  trial  of 
offences. 

"Resolved,  4.  That  after  this  declaration  of  sentiment,  the  whole  sub 
ject  of  slavery,  as  it  exists  in  the  Church,  be  referred  to  the  Sessions  and 
Presbyteries,  to  take  such  action  thereon  as,  in  their  judgment,  the  laws 
of  Christianity  require. 

"Adopted.     Yeas,  87;  nays,  16."— Minutes,  1850,  p.  325. 


SESSIONS  AT  UTICA,  A.D.  1851. 

"  The  memorials  are  few  in  number  (four  in  all),  kind  in  spirit,  deco 
rous  in  matter,  and  no  doubt  conscientious  in  origin.  The  committee 
have  carefully  read  and  considered  these  documents,  and  unanimously 
and  cordially  agree  to  the  following  result : 

"  That  the  Assembly  have  reason  to  be  thankful  to  Divine  Providence 
for  the  wisdom  and  prudence  vouchsafed  to  the  last  Assembly  in  coming 
to  conclusions  on  this  vexed  question  which  have  so  generally  met  with 
the  acquiescence  of  the  Church  at  this  crisis ;  and  that  it  seems  obviously 
our  duty  at  the  present  session  to  leave  the  whole  subject  as  it  was  placed 
by  that  action,  and  to  devote  our  time  to  other  subjects  which  demand 
attention,  always  praying  that  God  will  hasten  on  the  day  of  universal 
freedom  throughout  our  land  and  the  world." — Minutes,  1851,  p.  13. 


284  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

SESSIONS  AT  WASHINGTON,  A.D.  1852. 

"  The  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures  reported  four  memorials  on 
the  subject  of  slavery.  These  memorials  ask  of  the  Assembly  : 

"1.  A  further  expression  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

"2.  That  it  be  enjoined  on  the  lower  judicatories  to  bring  every  case 
of  slaveholding  under  examination  for  .particular  condemnation  or  vindi 
cation. 

"8.  That  the  several  Synods  be  cited  to  appear  before  the  next 
General  Assembly,  to  answer  charges  which  it  is  alleged  common  fame 
brings  against  them  in  connection  with  slavery. 

"  The  committee  are  of  opinion  : 

"  1.  That  the  General  Assembly  has  already  so  clearly  and  explicitly 
defined  its  views  on  the  subject  that  no  further  expression  of  opinion  is 
demanded  at  the  present  time. 

"2.  That  the  demand  for  an  injunction  on  the  lower  judicatories,  to 
take  action  with  respect  to  this  subject,  is  not  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  our  Constitution.  (Vide  chapter  on  lieview  and  Control.) 

"3.  That  the  several  memorials  which  ask  for  the  citation  of  the 
Synods  should  be  referred  to  the  Judicial  Committee. 

"  In  view  of  these  reasons,  the  committee  ask  to  be  discharged  from 
the  further  consideration  of  the  subject. 

"  Adopted/'— Minutes,  1852,  pp.  160,  161. 

11.    SESSIONS  AT  BUFFALO,  A.D.  1853. 

"  The  report  of  the  committee  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 
"The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  subject  of  slavery  respect 
fully  report,  that  twelve  memorials  touching  this  grave  matter,  from 
various  Synods  and  Presbyteries,  have  been  put  into  their  hands.  Of 
these,  eleven  are  from  the  North,  praying  the  Assembly  for  further 
action,  and  asking  for  precise  information  in  regard  to  the  extent  of  the 
practice  of  slaveholding  in  our  body,  and  in  regard  also  to  certain  alleged 
aggravations  of  it  in  the  unchristian  and  cruel  treatment  of  slaves.  One 
is  from  the  South,  complaining  of  unkindness  and  injustice  on  the  part 
of  many  Northern  brethren,  in  charging  upon  the  memorialists  practices 
of  which  they  are  not  guilty,  and  in  attributing  to  them  motives  which 
they  utterly  disclaim  and  abominate,  protesting  also  against  the  con 
tinued  agitation  of  this  subject,  as  tending  more  to  rivet  than  to  loose 
the  chains  of  the  slave,  and  seriously  to  embarrass  them  in  their  Gospel 
work. 


SLAVERY.  285 

"  Your  committee,  after  much  serious  and  prayerful  consideration  of 
this  whole  subject,  in  all  its  complicated  and  perplexing  relations,  and 
with  a  solemn  sense  of  responsibility  to  God  and  to  his  Church,  are  of 
one  mind  in  recommending  to  the  Assembly  the  following  action : 

"1.  That  this  body  reaffirm  the  doctrines  of  the  second  resolution 
adopted  by  the  Assembly  in  its  action  at  Detroit  in  1850. 

"2.  That  we  do  earnestly  exhort  and  beseech  all  those  who  are  hap 
pily  free  from  any  personal  connection  with  the  institution  of  slavery  to 
exercise  patience  and  forbearance  towards  their  brethren  less  favored  in 
this  respect  than  themselves,  remembering  the  embarrassments  of  their 
position  ]  and  to  cherish  for  them  that  fraternal  confidence  and  love 
which  they  the  more  need  in  consequence  of  the  peculiar  trials  by  which 
they  are  surrounded. 

"  3.  To  correct  misapprehensions  which  may  exist  in  many  Northern 
minds,  and  allay  causeless  irritation,  by  having  the  real  facts  in  relation 
to  this  subject  spread  before  the  whole  Church,  it  is  recommended  ear 
nestly  to  request  the  Presbyteries  in  each  of  the  slaveholding  States  to 
take  such  measures  as  may  seem  to  them  most  expedient  and  proper  for 
laying  before  the  next  Assembly,  in  its  sessions  at  Philadelphia,  distinct 
and  full  statements  touching  the  following  points  : 

"1.  The  number  of  slaveholders  in  connection  with  the  churches 
under  their  jurisdiction,  and  the  number  of  slaves  held  by  them. 

"2.  The  extent  to  which  slaves  are  held  by  an  unavoidable  necessity 
'  imposed  by  the  laws  of  the  States,  the  obligations  of  guardianship,  and 
the  demands  of  humanity.' 

"3.  Whether  a  practical  regard,  such  as  the  word  of  God  requires, 
is  evinced  by  the  Southern  churches  for  the  sacredness  of  the  conjugal 
and  parental  relations  as  they  exist  among  slaves ;  whether  baptism  is 
duly  administered  to  the  children  of  slaves  professing  Christianity ; 
whether  slaves  are  admitted  to  equal  privileges  and  powers  in  the 
church  courts ;  and,  in  general,  to  what  extent  and  in  what  manner  pro 
vision  is  made  for  the  religious  well-being  of  the  enslaved. 

"Adopted.     Yeas,  84;  Nays.  39."— Minutes,  1853,  p.  333. 

12.    SESSIONS  AT  ST.  Louis,  A.D.  1855. 

"The  committee  recommend — 

"1.  That  the  General  Assembly  address  a  pastoral  letter  to  all  the 
churches  under  their  care,  reaffirming  the  testimony  of  past  Assemblies 


286  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

in  regard  to  the  sinfulness  of  the  system  of  slavery  as  it  generally  exists 
in  these  United  States,  and  expressing  their  deep  regret  at  the  intem- 
perateness  of  word  and  action  that  has  too  often  characterized  the  spirit 
of  those  who  have  conscientiously  aimed  at  its  overthrow ;  and  that  they 
urge  upon  their  churches  earnest  efforts,  by  all  Christian  and  constitu 
tional  modes,  to  remove  the  evil  from  the  midst  of  us. 

"  2.  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  report  to  the  next  Assembly 
on  the  constitutional  power  of  the  Assembly  over  the  subject  of  slave- 
holding  in  our  churches;  and  that  we  recommend  that  this  evil  be 
removed  from  our  Church  as  soon  as  it  can  be  done  in  a  Christian  and 
constitutional  manner. 

"  Adopted." — Minutes,  1855,  p.  30. 


SESSIONS  AT   NEW  YORK,  A.D.  1856. 

13.  Report  of  the  Committee  "On  the  Constitutional  Poiccr  of  the  General 
Assembly  over  the  Subject  of  Slaveholdimj  in  our  Churches. 

"The  report  of  the  committee  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows : 
"  The  committee  appointed  by  the  last  General  Assembly  l  to  report  to 
the  next  Assembly  on  the  constitutional  power  of  the  Assembly  over  the 
subject  of  slaveholding  in  our  churches/  respectfully  submit  the  follow 
ing  report : 

"  It  should  be  observed  at  the  outset  that  the  committee  are  instructed 
to  report  on  but  a  single  point, — that  of  f  power/  The  question  before 
them  is  not  what  it  may  be  wise  for  the  Assembly  to  do, — not  what  in 
a  particular  case,  or  in  general  (authority  being  presupposed),  would  be 
for  edification,  but  what  is  the  power  of  the  Assembly  in  the  matter  of 
slaveholding  ?  This  is  a  question  which  can  be  determined  only  by 
reference  to  our  Form  of  Government.  The  'power'  on  which  we  are 
to  report  is  fitly  designated  as  '  constitutional/  We  are  a  constitutional 
body.  No  judicatory  of  our  Church  has  any  legitimate  functions  save 
those  which,  either  expressly  or  by  clear  implication,  the  Constitution 
confers.  Emphatically  should  this  be  said  of  our  highest  judicatory,  in 
view  of  the  tendency  of  human  nature,  in  ecclesiastical  connections,  to 
a  grasping  and  tyrannous  centralism.  The  one-man  power  at  Rome  is 
hardly  more  abhorrent  to  the  genius  of  Presbyterianism  than  would  be 
a  many-headed  Papacy,  under  the  name  and  form  of  a  General  Assem- 


SLAVERY. 


287 


bly.  It  should  be  remembered,  also,  that  as  a  visible  Church  or  par 
ticular  denomination,  our  Constitution  is  the  sole  bond  of  our  union. 
"VVe  are  united,  externally  arid  formally,  only  as  that  unites  us.  That, 
of  course,  must  measure  and  limit  the  responsibility  for  each  other  which 
grows  out  of  our  union.  No  one  part  of  our  body  can  be  held  answer 
able  for  the  evils  in  another,  which,  by  the  terms  of  our  confederation, 
it  has  no  power  to  reach. 

"  The  committee  would  further  remark,  that  they  do  not  feel  them 
selves  called  on  to  present  their  views  of  the  moral  character  of  slavery, 
or  to  reargue  the  question  whether  slaveholding  is,  in  any  case,  a  disci- 
plinable  offence.  They  do  not  suppose  that  they  were  appointed  with 
reference  to  that  question.  It  was  thoroughly  discussed  in  the  Assem 
bly  of  1850,  and  the  conclusion  reached,  l  that  the  holding  of  our  fellow- 
men  in  the  condition  of  slavery,  except  in  those  cases  where  it  is  un 
avoidable  by  the  laws  of  the  State,  the  obligations  of  guardianship,  or 
the  demands  of  humanity,  is  an  offence  in  the  proper  import  of  that 
term,  as  used  in  the  Book  of  Discipline,  chapter  i,  section  3,  and  should 
be  regarded  and  treated  in  the  same  manner  as  other  offences/  This 
opinion  has  been  reaffirmed,  either  expressly  or  virtually,  by  nearly  every 
succeeding  Assembly,  including  the  last.  Nor  do  the  committee  antici 
pate  that  any  considerable  portion  of  the  present  Assembly  will  either 
stand  in  doubt  concerning  it,  or  incline  in  the  least  to  a  retrograde 
course.  The  doctrine  set  forth  at  Detroit — set  forth  simply  as  a  doc 
trine,  and  not  as  a  law  or  judicial  decision — is  yet,  they  judge,  the  set 
tled  view  of  our  Church.  Taking  this  for  granted,  their  sole  concern  is 
with  the  relations  of  the  Assembly  to  the  matter.  To  determine  this 
point,  we  have  only  to  ascertain  what  are  the  constitutional  powers  of 
that  body  in  respect  to  disciplinable  offences  generally. 

"  Its  functions  in  this  regard,  we  judge,  are  of  two  kinds,  advisory 
and  authoritative  ;  and  between  these  there  should  be  a  careful  discri 
mination.  The  advisory  function  of  the  Assembly  is  of  very  wide 
scope.  According  to  the  Form  of  Government,  chapter  xii,  section  5, 
they  have  the  power  of  l  reproving,  warning,  or  bearing  testimony  against 
error  in  doctrine  or  immorality  in  practice  in  any  church,  Presbytery,  or 
Synod/  and  '  of  recommending  .  .  .  reformation  of  manners  .  .  . 
through  all  the  churches  under  their  care.'  This  function  of  reproof 
may  be  exercised  in  reference  to  any  evil  grave  enough  to  call  for  it. 
Nor  is  it  an  unimportant  function.  The  testimony  of  such  a  body  as 
the  General  Assembly,  especially  if  unanimously  given,  must  have  great 


288  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

weight.  It  has,  indeed,  only  a  moral  influence.  It  is  not  authoritative. 
It  binds  no  other  body,  not  even  a  succeeding  General  Assembly.  It 
binds  no  individual ;  yet  cases  are  not  unfrequent  in  which  a  moral  in 
fluence  of  this  sort,  if  not  the  only  one  that  could  be  employed,  is  the 
most  efficacious.  It  has  greater  power  over  the  conscience,  often,  than 
the  most  stringent  exercise  of  bare  authority. 

"As  it  respects  the  authoritative  function  of  the  Assembly,  or  its 
power  of  discipline,  that,  we  judge,  can  only  be  exercised  in  the  forms 
and  methods  marked  out  in  the  Constitution.  It  is  by  no  means  co 
extensive  with  its  testifying  power.  As  counsel  or  testimony  has  only 
a  moral  force,  the  manner  in  which  it  shall  be  put  forth  is  wisely  left  to 
the  discretion  of  the  Assembly.  Not  so  with  discipline.  Concerning, 
as  it  does,  the  dearest  rights  and  interests,  it  is  of  the  highest  impor 
tance  that  the  mode  of  its  exercise  should  be  particularly  prescribed. 
So  we  find  it  in  our  Form  of  Government.  Every  step  is  distinctly  set 
forth,  and  the  greatest  care  taken  to  guard  all  concerned  against  mistake 
and  abuse.  Nor  is  any  exception  made  as  to  any  particular  class  of 
offences.  If  slaveholding  is  in  any  case  to  be  dealt  with  as  a  discipli- 
nable  matter,  it  must  be  in  some  one  of  the  ways  explicitly  authorized 
in  the  Constitution. 

"  The  methods  in  which  the  authoritative  action  of  the  Assembly  may 
be  invoked,  as  appears  from  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Disci 
pline,  are  four :  by  reference,  by  appeal,  by  complaint,  and — to  state 
that  last  which  in  the  Book  of  Discipline  comes  first — by  general  review 
and  control.  The  three  processes  first  named  do  not,  of  course,  originate 
in  the  Assembly.  Their  inception  is  in  a  lower  judicatory.  In  one  or 
another  of  them,  it  is  presumed,  most  of  the  matters  which  call  for  dis 
ciplinary  action  on  the  part  of  the  highest  judicatory  will,  in  due  time, 
come  before  it.  There  is,  however,  a  possibility  of  neglect  in  this 
regard ;  and  for  such  a  contingency  our  Constitution — framed  with  a 
wisdom  best  appreciated  by  those  who  have  most  thoroughly  studied  it — 
has  made  a  specific  provision.  This  provision  is  found  in  the  section  on 
'  General  Review  and  Control/  See  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  viii, 
sec.  1. 

"Under  this  section,  there  are  two  methods  in  which  any  discipli- 
nable  offence — and  slaveholding,  of  course,  when  it  assumes  that  cha 
racter — may  be  reached  authoritatively  by  the  Assembly.  (1.)  It  may 
appear  from  the  records  of  a  Synod,  as  submitted  for  inspection,  that 
there  has  been  some  wrong-doing  or  culpable  omission  in  the  matter. 


SLAVERY.  289 

A  case  may  bave  been  incorrectly  decided,  or  refused  a  hearing.  Or  it 
may  be  obvious  tbat  tbe  records  of  some  Presbytery  have  not,  according 
to  the  2d  and  3d  articles  of  this  section,  been  properly  disposed  of.  Or 
it  may  appear  that  the  duty  enjoined  in  the  6th  article — that  of  citing 
a  lower  judicatory  in  a  given  contingency — has  beeir  entirely  neglected. 
In  cases  of  this  sort  there  may  be  (  animadversion  or  censure/  or,  ac 
cording  to  article  3d,  the  Synod  l  may  be  required  to  review  and  correct 
its  proceedings.'  (2.)  i  Any  important  delinquency,  or  grossly  uncon 
stitutional  proceedings/  not  apparent  from  the  records,  may  yet  be 
charged  against  a  Synod  l  by  common  fame/  It  may  be  reported,  for 
example,  that  through  some  neglect  of  the  Synod  '  heretical  opinions  or 
corrupt  practices '  are  '  allowed  to  gain  ground/  or  that  '  offenders  of  a 
very  gross  character'  are  'suffered  to  escape/  See  Articles  5  and  6  of 
this  same  section.  In  such  case,  provided  the  rumor  is  of  the  character 
specified  in  the  Book  of  Discipline,  chap.  3,  sec.  5, — for  a  process  against 
a  Synod  should  certainly  not  be  commenced  on  slighter  grounds  than 
against  an  individual, — the  Assembly  '  is  to  cite  the  judicatory  alleged7 
to  have  offended  to  appear  at  a  specified  time  and  place,  and  to  show 
what  it  has  done,  or  failed  to  do,  in  the  case  in  question  •  after  which 
the  judicatory  thus  issuing  the  citation  shall  remit  the  whole  matter  to 
the  delinquent  judicatory,  with  a  direction  to  Hake  it  up  and  dispose  of 
it  in  a  constitutional  manner,  or  stay  all  further  proceedings  in  the  case, 
as  circumstances  may  require/  See  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sec. 
1,  art.  6. 

"  In  view  of  the  aforenamed  and  other  provisions  of  our  Form  of  Go 
vernment  touching  the  authority  of  the  Assembly,  two  things  are  to  be 
carefully  noted. 

"  1.  It  has  no  power  to  commence  a  process  of  discipline  with  an  in 
dividual  offender.  That,  by  a  just  and  wise  arrangement,  belongs,to  the 
Session  in  the  case  of  a  layman,  to  the  Presbytery  in  the  case  of  a  mi 
nister.  The  disciplinary  function  of  the  Assembly  as  to  individuals  is 
simply  appellate  and  re  visionary.  It  is  not  the  court  of  first,  but  of  last 
resort. 

"2.  In  the  way  of  'general  review  and  control/  it  can  reach  directly 
only  the  judicatory  next  below, — that  is,  the  Synod.  (See  Book  of  Dis 
cipline,  chap,  vii,  sec.  1,  art.  6.)  Indirectly,  indeed,  the  doings  of  other 
bodies  may  be  involved.  A  Session  may  grossly  neglect  discipline,  for 
example,  and  the  recorded  indication  or  the  common  fame  thereof  may 
not  be  properly  heeded  by  the  Presbytery.  The  fruit  of  this  heedless-- 

19 


290  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

ness,  or  the  evidence  of  it  in  the  Presbyterial  records,  may  call  forth  no 
appropriate  action  on  the  part  of  the  Synod ;  and  this  may  be  brought, 
by  the  Synodical  records,  or  by  general  rumor,  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
Assembly.  On  the  ground  of  either  the  record  or  the  rumor,  the  As 
sembly  may  cite  the  Synod  before  them.  Thus,  mediately j  may.  even  a 
Session  be  reached,  but  not  directly. 

"  Such  are  the  metes  and  bounds  which  our  Form  of  Government  has 
prescribed,  and  which  the  Assembly  may  not  overpass.  It  is  quite  pos 
sible  that,  in  connection  with  them,  offenders  of  various  sorts  may  some 
times  escape.  To  a  human  administration,  of  however  Divine  a  system, 
imperfection  always  pertains.  Our  Book  of  Discipline,  indeed  (chap,  iii, 
sec.  3),  distinctly  recognizes  a  class  of  cases  in  which,  f  however  grievous 
it  may  be  to  the  pious  to  see  an  unworthy  member  in  the  Church,  it  is 
proper  to  wait  until  God  in  his  righteous  providence  shall  give  further 
light/  Waiting  may  be  rendered  necessary  by  a  lack  of  fidelity  on  the 
part  of  the  lower  judicatories,  as  well  as  by  a  lack  of  evidence.  We 
speak  of  it,  of  course,  not  as  an  actual,  but  only  as  a  supposable  case. 
And  it  may  seem  to  some  a  great  evil  that  the  General  Assembly  is  not 
invested  with  larger  powers.  Yet  it  would  be  a  greater  evil  to  allow 
any  departure  from  the  carefully-devised  processes  of  discipline  set  forth 
in  the  Constitution.  To  permit  the  Assembly  to  adopt  at  its  pleasure 
new  processes — to  suit  its  own  powers  to  real  or  fancied  exigencies — 
would  not  only  invest  it  with  legislative  functions,  but  would  virtually 
annul  the  Constitution,  and  transform  the  highest  judicatory  of  the 
Church  into  an  overshadowing  ecclesiastical  despotism. 

"  It  has,  indeed,  been  urged — though  we  see  not  with  what  reason — 
that  the  advisory  function  of  the  Assembly,  or  its  power  of  bearing 
testimony,  implies  the  authority  necessary  to  enforce  that  testimony.  Is 
there  then  no  just  and  salutary  distinction  between  persuasion  and  com 
pulsion  ?  Must  the  two  be  ever  conjoined  ?  Are  there  no  cases  in 
which  a  simple  moral  power  may,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  most 
potent  ?  Must  the  Assembly  utter  no  counsels  which  are  not  to  be  in 
terpreted  as  mandatory  and  coercive  ?  If  they  may  enforce  all  their 
counsels,  how  are  they  to  do  it  ?  By  processes  which  they  themselves 
devise, — extra-constitutional  processes  ?  Or  are  they  to  be  held  to  the 
provisions  of  the  Book  of  Discipline  ?  They  have,  it  is  true,  the  right, 
according  to  the  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  5,  of  '  attempting/ 
as  well  as  '  recommending,  reformation  of  manners/  But  the  attempt 
must  be  made,  if  discipline  is  to  be  involved,  only  in  the  method  pre- 


SLAVERY.  291 

scribed  in  the  Constitution.  To  all  desirable  ends,  the  committee 
believe,  that  method  will  be  found  adequate;  especially  as  connected 
•with  that  testifying  and  reproving  function  so  often  exercised  in  time 
past,  and  which,  by  a  body  like  the  Assembly,  can  never  be  wisely 
exercised  but  with  salutary  results. 

"  ALBERT  BARNES, 
"AsA  D.  SMITH, 
"Wai.  JESSUP, 
"  AUGUSTUS  P.  HASCALL." 
—Minutes,  1856,  pp.  197-201. 

14.    SESSIONS   AT   CLEVELAND,  A.D.  1857. 

"The  General  Assembly,  in  view  of  the  memorials  before  them  and 
of  the  present  relations  of  the  Church  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  feel 
called  upon  to  make  the  following  exposition  of  principle  and  duty : 

"  The  Presbyterian  Church  in  these  United  States  has  from  the 
beginning  maintained  an  attitude  of  decided  opposition  to  the  institution 
of  slavery. 

"  The  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  in  1787,  two  years  before 
the  organization  of  the  General  Assembly,  declared  that  they  did 
'  highly  approve  of  the  general  principles  in  favor  of  universal  liberty 
that  prevail  in  America,  and  the  interest  which  many  of  the  States 
have  taken  in  promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  did  recommend  it 
to  all  their  people  to  use  the  most  prudent  measures,  consistent  with 
the  interest  and  state  of  civil  society  in  the  parts  where  they  live,  to 
procure  eventually  the  final  abolition  of  slavery  in  America/ 

"In  1793,  while  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  in 
process  of  formation  and  publication,  the  action  of  the  Synod  just 
referred  to  was  approved  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  republished 
by  its  order. 

"The  Assembly  of  1815  declared  t  that,  although  in  some  sections 
of  our  country,  under  certain  circumstances,  the  transfer  of  slaves  may 
be  unavoidable,  yet  they  consider  the  buying  and  selling  of  slaves  by 
way  of  traffic,  and  all  undue  severity  in  the  management  of  them,  as 
inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  And  they  recommend  it  to 
the  Presbyteries  and  Sessions  under  their  care  to  make  use  of  all 
prudent  measures  to  prevent  such  shameful  and  unrighteous  conduct.' 

"The  Assembly  of  1815  '  expressed  their  regret  that  the  slavery  of 


292  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

the  Africans  and  of  their  descendants  still  continues  in  so  many  places, 
and  even  among  those  within  the  pale  of  the  Church/  and  called  par 
ticular  attention  to  the  action  of  1795,  with  respect  to  the  buying  and 
selling  of  slaves. 

"In  1818,  the  Assembly  unanimously  adopted  a  report  on  this  sub 
ject,  prepared  by  Dr.  Green,  of  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Baxter,  of  Virginia, 
and  Mr.  Burgess,  of  Ohio,  of  which  the  following  is  a  part : 

li  'We  consider  the  voluntary  enslaving  of  one  part  of  the  human  race 
by  another  as  a  gross  violation  of  the  most  precious  and  sacred  rights  of 
human  nature,  as  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  law  of  God,  which 
requires  us  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves,  and  as  totally  irreconcilable 
with  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  which  enjoins 
that  "all  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye 
even  so  to  them."  Slavery  creates  a  paradox  in  the  moral  system  :  it 
exhibits  rational,  accountable,  and  immortal  beings  in  such  circumstances 
as  scarcely  to  leave  them  the  power  of  moral  action.  It  exhibits  them 
as  dependent  on  the  will  of  others  whether  they  shall  receive  religious 
instruction;  whether  they  shall  know  and  worship  the  true  God; 
whether  they  shall  enjoy  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel;  whether  they 
shall  perform  the  duties  and  cherish  the  endearments  of  husbands  and 
wives,  parents  and  children,  neighbors  and  friends;  whether  they  shall 
preserve  their  chastity  and  purity,  or  regard  the  dictates  of  justice  and 
humanity.  Such  are  some  of  the  consequences  of  slavery, — consequences 
not  imaginary,  but  which  connect  themselves  with  its  very  existence. 
The  evils  to  which  the  slave  is  always  exposed  often  take  place  in  fact, 
and  in  their  very  worst  degree  and  form  ;  and,  where  all  of  them  do  not 
take  place, — as  we  rejoice  to  say  that  in  many  instances,  through  the 
influence  of  the  principles  of  humanity  and  religion  on  the  minds  of 
masters,  they  do  not, — still,  the  slave  is  deprived  of  his  natural  right, 
degraded  as  a  human  being,  and  exposed  to  the  danger  of  passing  into 
the  hands  of  a  master  who  may  inflict  upon  him  all  the  hardships  and 
injuries  which  inhumanity  and  avarice  may  suggest. 

"  (  From  this  view  of  the  consequences  resulting  from  the  practice 
into  which  Christian  people  have  most  inconsistently  fallen  of  enslaving 
a  portion  of  their  brethren  of  mankind, — for  God  hath  made  of  one  blood 
all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth, — it  is  manifestly 
the  duty  of  all  Christians  who  enjoy  the  light  of  the  present  day,  when 
the  Inconsistency  of  slavery  both  with  the  dictates  of  humanity  and 
religion  has  been  demonstrated  and  is  generally  seen  and  acknowledged, 
to  use  their  honest,  earnest,  and  unwearied  endeavors  to  correct  the 


SLAVERY.  29o 

errors  of  former  times,  and  as  speedily  as  possible  to  efface  this  blot  on 
our  holy  religion,  and  to  obtain  the  complete  abolition  of  slavery  through 
out  Christendom,  and,  if  possible,  throughout  the  world.' 

"  The  Assembly  also  recommended  l  to  all  the  members  of  our  religious 
denomination,  not  only  to  permit,  but  to  facilitate  and  encourage  the 
instruction  of  their  slaves  in  the  principles  and  duties  of  the  Christian 
religion ;'  and  added,  i  We  enjoin  it  on  all  church  Sessions  and  Presby 
teries  under  the  care  of  this  Assembly  to  discountenance,  and,  as  far 
as  possible,  to  prevent,  all  cruelty  of  whatever  kind  in  the  treatment  of 
slaves,  especially  the  cruelty  of  separating  husband  and  wife,  parents 
and  children,  and  that  which  consists  in  selling  slaves  to  those  who  will 
either  themselves  deprive  these  unhappy  people  of  the  blessings  of  the 
Gospel,  or  who  will  transport  them  to  places  where  the  Gospel  is  not  pro 
claimed,  or  where  it  is  forbidden  to  slaves  to  attend  upon  its  institutions/ 

"  The  foregoing  testimonials  on  the  subject  of  slavery  were  universally 
acquiesced  in  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  up  to  the  time  of  the  division 
in  1838. 

"  In  the  year  1846,  the  General  Assembly  made  a  declaration  on  this 
subject,  of  which  the  following  is  the  introductory  paragraph  : 

"  1 1.  The  system  of  slavery  as  it  exists  in  these  United  States,  viewed 
either  in  the  laws  of  the  several  States  which  sanction  it,  or  in  its  actual 
operation  and  results  in  society,  is  intrinsically  an  unrighteous  and 
oppressive  system,  and  is  opposed  to  the  prescriptions  of  the  law  of  God, 
to  the  spirit  and  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  the  best  interests  of 
humanity.' 

"In  1849,  the  Assembly  explicitly  reaffirmed  the  sentiments  ex 
pressed  by  the  Assemblies  of  1815,  1818,  and  1846.  In  the  year  1850, 
the  General  Assembly  made  the  following  declaration  :  l  We  exceedingly 
deplore  the  working  of  the  whole  system  of  slavery  as  it  exists  in  our 
country  and  is  interwoven  with  the  political  institutions  of  the  slave- 
holding  States,  as  fraught  with  many  and  great  evils  to  the  civil,  political, 
and  moral  interests  of  those  regions  where  it  exists. 

"'The  holding  of  our  fellow-men  in  the  condition  of  slavery,  except 
in  those  cases  where  it  is  unavoidable  by  the  laws  of  the  State,  the  obli 
gations  of  guardianship,  or  the  demands  of  humanity,  is  an  offence  in 
the  proper  import  of  that  term  as  used  in  the  Book  of  Discipline,  chap, 
i,  sec.  3,  and  should  be  regarded  and  treated  in  the  same  manner  as 
other  offences.' 

"  Occupying  the  position  in  relation  to  this  subject  which  the  framers 
of  our  Constitution  held  at  the  first,  and  which  our  Church  has  always 


-i94  VII. — MORAL   QUESTIONS. 

held,  it  is  with  deep  grief  that  we  now  discover  that  a  portion  of  the 
Church  at  the  South  has  so  far  departed  from  the  established  doctrine 
of  the  Church  in  relation  to  slavery  as  to  maintain  that  'it  is  an  ordinance 
of  God/  and  that  the  system  of  slavery  existing  in  these  United  States 
is  scriptural  and  right.  Against  this  new  doctrine  we  feel  constrained 
to  bear  our  solemn  testimony.  It  is  at  war  with  the  whole  spirit  and 
tenor  of  the  Gospel  of  love  and  good-will,  as  well  as  abhorrent  to  the 
conscience  of  the  Christian  world.  We  can  have  no  sympathy  or  fellow 
ship  with  it ;  and  we  exhort  all  our  people  to  eschew  it  as  serious  and 
pernicious  error. 

"  We  are  especially  pained  by  the  fact  that  the  Presbytery  of  Lexing 
ton,  South,  have  given  official  notice  to  us  that  a  number  of  ministers 
and  ruling  elders,  as  well  as  many  church-members,  in  their  connection, 
hold  slaves  'from  principle'  and  <  of  choice/  ( believing  it  to  be  accord 
ing  to  the  Bible  right/  and  have,  without  any  qualifying  explanation, 
assumed  the  responsibility  of  sustaining  such  ministers,  elders,  and 
church-members  in  their  position.  We  deem  it  our  duty,  in  the  exer 
cise  of  our  constitutional  authority  f  to  bear  testimony  against  error  in 
doctrine  or  immorality  in  practice  in  any  church,  Presbytery,  or  Synod/ 
to  disapprove  and  earnestly  condemn  the  position  which  has  been  thus 
assumed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington,  South,  as  one  which  is  opposed 
to  the  established  convictions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  must 
operate  to  mar  its  peace  and  seriously  hinder  its  prosperity,  as  well  as 
bring  reproach  on  our  holy  religion  ;  and  we  do  hereby  call  on  that 
Presbytery  to  review  and  rectify  their  position.  Such  doctrines  and 
practice  cannot  be  permanently  tolerated  in  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
May  they  speedily  melt  away  under  the  illuminating  and  mellowing 
influence  of  the  Gospel  and  grace  of  God  our  Saviour  ! 

"  We  do  not,  indeed,  pronounce  a  sentence  of  indiscriminate  condem 
nation  upon  all  our  brethren  who  are  unfortunately  connected  with  the 
system  of  slavery.  We  tenderly  sympathize  with  all  those  who  deplore 
the  evil,  and  are  honestly  doing  all  in  their  power  for  the  present  well- 
being  of  their  slaves  and  for  their  complete  emancipation.  We  would 
aid  and  not  embarrass  such  brethren.  And  yet,  in  the  language  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  1818,  we  would  'earnestly  warn  them  against 
unduly  extending  the  plea  of  necessity, — against  making  it  a  cover  for 
the  love  and  practice  of  slavery,  or  a  pretence  for  not  using  efforts  that 
are  lawful  and  practicable  to  extinguish  this  evil/ 

"  In  conclusion,  the  Assembly  call  the  attention  of  the  Publication 


SLAVERY.  295 

Committee  to  this  subject,  and  recommend  the  publication,  in  a  con 
venient  form,  of  the  testimony  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  touching  this 
subject,  at  the  earliest  practicable  period. 

"  The  vote  upon  its  adoption  was  by  yeas  and  nays. 

"Adopted:  Yeas,  169;  Nays,  26;  non  Uquct,  2."— Minutes,  1857, 
pp.  401-404. 

15.   SESSIONS  AT   CHICAGO,   1860. 

"The  Standing  Committee  on  Church  Extension,  to  whom  was  re 
ferred  the  resolution  proposing  that  the  G-eneral  Assembly  should  instruct 
the  Church  Extension  Committee  to  off3r  no  assistance  to  any  church 
that  has  in  its  communion  one  or  more  slaveholders,  reported  as  follows  : 

"  1.  The  Permanent  Committee  on  Church  Extension  is  appointed  to 
act  for  the  wljole  Church,  being  an  organ  of  the  General  Assembly, 
which  represents  the  whole  Church,  and  we  can  see  no  defensible  prin 
ciple  on  which  such  a  committee  could  make  discriminations,  on  moral 
grounds,  between  churches  that  are  recognized  as  having  the  same  eccle 
siastical  standing  under  our  common  Constitution. 

"  2.  The  position  of  our  Church  is  well  understood  to  be  one  of  oppo 
sition  to  the  spirit  and  the  system  of  slavery;  and  we  have  no  reason  to 
believe  that  any  churches  connected  with  us  are  using  their  influence  to 
sustain  and  fortify  that  institution. 

"3.  If  it  be  true,  that  any  members  of  churches  in  our  connection 
hold  slaves,  under  mistaken  views  of  their  duty  towards  them,  we  do  not 
see  that  this  affords  any  sufficient  reason  for  withholding  from  them  the 
bread  of  life,  and  such  enlightened  teachings  as  we  believe  our  ministry 
are  qualified  and  disposed  to  impart,  in  relation  to  all  the  great  princi 
ples  of  Christian  duty.  We  sympathize  with  all  Christian  endeavors  to 
remove  imperfection  and  sin  from  the  Church  of  Christ;  but  we  think 
this  end  is  to  be  accomplished,  not  by  withdrawing  the  Gospel  from 
those  who  need  it,  but  by  affectionate  and  prayerful  efforts  to  apply  the 
principles  of  our  holy  religion  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  every  Chris 
tian  who  is  willing  to  receive  instruction. 

"4.  The  Church  Extension  Committee  are  fully  aware  of  the  ground 
which  our  Church  occupies  with  reference  to  this  subject,  and  we  have 
confidence  that  they  will  conscientiously  discharge  their  duty,  with  an 
enlightened  regard  to  the  promotion  of  righteousness  and  holiness  in  the 
Church  and  in  the  world. 

"The  report  was  adopted/'— Minutes,  1860,  p.  258. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DELIVERANCES    ON    DOCTRINE. 

.  Case  of  Samuel  Harker.  Views  condemned. — '?.  Testimony  against  the  doc 
trine  of  universal  salvation,  and  the  finite  duration  of  hell  torments. — 3.  Testi 
mony  against  Socinianism. — 4.  Case  of  Rev.  Hezekiah  Balch.  Doctrines  con 
demned;  acknowledgment  required,  and  made. — 5.  "  Gospel  Plan,"  by  W.  C. 
Davis,  condemned. — 6.  Case  of  Thomas  B.  Craighead. — 7.  Case  of  Albert 
Barnes. — 8.  Testimony  against  certain  disorders. — 9.  Against  errors  in  doc 
trine. — 10.  An  explication  of  doctrines. 

1.    Case  of  Samuel  Harlcer. 

"  A  reference  was  brought  into  the  Synod  from  the  New  Brunswick 
Presbytery,  respecting  Mr.  Samuel  Harker,  one  of  their  members,  as 
having  imbibed  and  vented  certain  erroneous  doctrines.  The  further 
consideration  of  this  affair  deferred  till  the  next  scdenmt." — Minutes, 
1758,  p.  2S3. 

[The  matter  was  continued  from  year  to  year,  Synod  endeavoring  to 
remove  the  difficulty,  and  bring  Mr.  Harker  to  a  sense  of  his  error.  In 
1761,  Mr.  Harker  printed  and  published  his  views,  and  the  Synod 
(17G2)  appointed  a  committee  to  examine  the  book,  who  reported  next 
year.] 

'f  The  Synod  proceeded  to  consider  Mr.  Barker's  principles,  collected 
from  his  book  by  the  committee,  which  are  in  substance  as  follows  : 

"  1.  That  the  covenant  of  grace  is  in  such  a  sense  conditional,  that 
fallen  mankind  in  their  unregenerate  state,  by  the  general  assistance 
given  to  all  under  the  Gospel,  have  a  sufficient  ability  to  fulfil  the  con 
ditions  thereof,  and  so,  by  their  own  endeavors,  to  insure  to  themselves 
regenerating  grace  and  all  saving  blessings. 


VIII. — DELIVERANCES   ON    DOCTRINE.  297 

"  2.  That  God  has  bound  himself  by  promise  to  give  them  regene 
rating  grace,  upon  their  fulfilling  what  he  (Mr.  Harker)  calls  the  direct 
conditions  of  obtaining  it ;  and,  upon  the  whole,  makes  a  certain  and  an 
infallible  connection  between  their  endeavors  and  the  aforesaid  bless 
ings. 

U3.  That  God's  prescience  of  future  events  is  previous  to,  and  not 
dependent  on  his  decrees ;  that  his  decrees  have  no  influence  on  his 
own  conduct,  and  that  the  foresight  of  faith  was  the  ground  of  the  de 
cree  of  election. 

"  It  is  further  observed,  that  he  often  uses  inaccurate,  unintelligible? 
and  dangerous  modes  of  expression,  that  tend  to  lead  people  into  false 
notions  in  several  important  matters,  as  that  Adam  was  the  federal 
father  of  his  posterity  in  the  second  covenant  as  well  as  in  the  first ; 
that  the  regenerate  are  not  in  a  state  of  probation  for  heaven,  and  several 
such  like. 

"  The  Synod  judge  that  these  principles  are  of  a  hurtful  and  danger 
ous  tendency,  giving  a  false  view  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  perverting  it 
into  a  new-modelled  covenant  of  works,  and  misrepresent  the  doctrine 
of  the  Divine  decrees,  as  held  by  the  best  Reformed  Churches,  and  in 
fine,  are  contrary  to  the  word  of  God  and  our  approved  standards  of  doc 
trine."— Minutes,  1763,  p.  329. 

2.    Testimony  against  Universalism. 

"  Whereas,  the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation,  and  of  the  finite  dura 
tion  of  hell  torments,  has  been  propagated  by  sundry  persons  who  live  in 
the  United  States  of  America,  and  the  people  under  our  care  may  pos 
sibly,  from  their  occasional  conversation  with  the  propagators  of  such  a 
dangerous  opinion,  be  infected  by  the  doctrine,  the  Synod  take  this  op 
portunity  to  declare  their  utter  abhorrence  of  such  doctrines  as  they 
apprehend  to  be  subversive  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  religion 
and  morality  j  and  therefore  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all  their  Presby 
teries  and  members  to  be  watchful  upon  this  subject,  and  to  guard 
against  the  introduction  of  such  tenets  among  our  people."  [See  chap, 
i,  sec.  3  : 1,  p.  38.] — Minutes,  1787,  p.  540. 

3.  Against  Socinianism. 

a.  "If  there  is  a  religion  revealed  by  God,  it  is  as  important  to  have 
correct  views  of  its  principles,  to  perform  the  duties  which  it  enjoins  in 


298  VIII. — DELIVERANCES   ON   DOCTRINE. 

the  various  relations  of  life,  as  it  is  to  have  correct  views  of  morality, 
that  our  lives  may  be  moral.  Error  in  principle  invariably  produces 
error  in  practice.  To  be  ever  learning  and  never  coining  to  the  know 
ledge  of  the  truth,  is  characteristic  of  none  but  those  who  assume  for 
the  human  understanding  the  prerogative  of  sitting  in  judgment  upon 
the  inspired  truth  of  God,  either  condemning  the  whole  as  an  imposi 
tion,  or  undertaking  to  correct  its  alleged  mistakes  by  abridging  and 
falsifying  its  contents.  Of  the  former  class,  we  rejoice  that  their  num 
ber  and  influence  are  diminished.  Not  many  years  past,  they  triumphed, 
to  the  regret  and  anguish  of  the  followers  of  Christ.  With  brazen  front, 
infidelity 'threatened  the  annihilation  of  the  Church,  and  the  ruin  of  her 
Lord's  authority.  But  the  Church  not  merely  survives  its  attacks ;  she 
has  increased  in  numbers  and  in  grace,  whilst  her  adversaries  arc  com 
pelled,  though  unwillingly,  to  pay  homage  to  the  paramount  claims  of 
her  God  and  her  Saviour,  who  is  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords. 
Few  are  to  be  found,  who  respect  themselves,  openly  opposing  the  truth 
of  God  as  contained  in  the  Scriptures.  There  are,  however,  some  within 
our  bounds  who,  whilst  they  profess  to  honor  the  authority  of  the  Bible, 
with  unhallowed  hands  would  cut  out  of  its  pages  those  passages  which 
command  us  to  honor  the  Son  as  we  honor  the  Father,  and  rob  the  trem 
bling  sinner  of  the  only  hope  of  acceptance  with  God  which  his  soul  can 
cherish.  The  well-beloved  and  only-begotten  Son  of  God  they  reduce 
to  the  level  of  frail  humanity,  and  his  work  of  redemption  to  the  mere 
fact  of  furnishing  us  a  perfect  example  of  conversation  and  conduct. 
By  denying  his  character  as  a  covenant-surety  to  bear  our  sins  and  carry 
our  sorrows,  they  lower  his  example,  as  a  righteous  and  holy  man,  below 
that  which  his  Apostles  and  primitive  followers  afford  us.  And  so  far 
as  we  have  had  the  opportunity  of  judging  from  facts  which  have  fallen 
under  our  observation,  their  principles  have  introduced  among  all  who 
have  embraced  them,  so  great  a  conformity  in  their  practice  to  the  world 
which  lieth  in  wickedness,  as  to  render  it  impossible  to  discriminate  them 
from  the  children  of  that  world. 

"  In  connection  with  these  anti-Trinitarians,  for  we  reject  the  name 
which  they  have  assumed,  of  Unitarians,  holding  the  unity  of  God  as 
strictly  as  they  do,  are  the  Universalists,  or  the  supporters  of  the  doctrine 
of  universal  salvation.  It  is  a  tribute,  however,  which  we  owe  to  truth, 
to  say,  that  whilst  the  anti-Trinitarians,  for  the  sake  of  consistency,  are 
compelled  to  maintain  the  ultimate  and  eternal  salvation  of  all,  the 
Universalists  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  the  atonement 


VIII. — DELIVERANCES   ON   DOCTRINE.  299 

of  the  Lord  Jesus.  They,  however,  by  assuring  all  that  they  will  be  in 
the  end  forever  happy,  provide  for  the  gratification  of  present  desires 
and  continuance  in  sin  whilst  they  live. 

"  As  these  errors  in  principle  do  exist  in  some  portion  of  our  Church, 
though  we  have  good  reasons  to  believe  that  they  are  not  increasing,  the 
Assembly  trust  that  they  will  be  opposed,  and  their  ruinous  tendency 
unfolded  with  fidelity  and  success." — Minutes,  1818,  p.  677. 

l>.  "  In  some  parts  of  our  land,  attempts  are  made  to  propagate  the 
most  pernicious  errors.  With  a  zeal  worthy  of  a  better  cause,  and  under 
lofty  pretensions  to  superior  rationality  and  to  deeper  discoveries  in 
religion,  some  are  endeavoring  to  take  away  the  crown  from  the  Re 
deemer's  head;  to  degrade  Him  who  is  the  mighty  God  and  the  Prince 
of  life  to  a  level  with  mere  men,  and  to  rob  us  of  all  our  hopes  of  re 
demption  through  his  blood.  Pretending,  too,  a  more  expanded  benevo 
lence  to  man,  and  more  ennobled  ideas  of  the  goodness  and  mercy  of 
God,  they  assiduously  propagate  the  sentiment,  that  all  men  will  ulti 
mately  obtain  eternal  happiness,  however  sinful  their  present  temper  and 
conduct  may  be,  without  any  regard  to  the  cleansing  of  the  blood,  of 
atonement,  or  the  sanctifying  influences  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Believing 
that  these  sentiments  are  utterly  subversive  of  Gospel  truth  and  holiness; 
that  they  are  alike  dishonoring  to  God  and  destructive  to  the  present  and 
eternal  welfare  of  men,  we  cannot  but  affectionately  warn  you  against 
them.  Beware,  brethren,  lest  ye  also,  being  led  away  with  the  error  of 
the  wicked,  fall  from  your  own  steadfastness.  Cherish  an  ardent  attach 
ment  to  the  truth  which  is  according  to  godliness,  arid  seek  to  experience 
in  your  own  souls  its  sanctifying  influence." — Minutes,  1822,  p.  58. 

4.  Case  of  Rev.  Ilezeldah  Balch. 

"  The  consideration  of  the  references  relative  to  Mr.  Balch  was 
resumed,  and  after  some  amendments  made  on  the  draught  brought  in 
by  the  committee,  it  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  They  remark  upon  the  first  article  of  the  creed  aforesaid,  that  Mr. 
Balch  is  erroneous  in  making  disinterested  benevolence  the  only  defini 
tion  of  holiness  or  true  religion  •  because  this  may  perplex  the  minds  of 
those  not  accustomed  to  abstract  speculations,  is  questionable  in  itself, 
and  may  convey  the  idea  that  an  absolute  God,  or  a  God  out  of  Christ, 
is  the  object  of  the  highest  affection  to  the  renewed  mind. 

"  Upon  the  second  article,  they  remark,  that  Mr.  Balch  has  confounded 


300  VIII. — DELIVERANCES    ON   DOCTRINE. 

self-love  with  selfishness  in  an  abstract  speculation,  calculated  to  puzzle 
plain  Christians  and  lead  to  unprofitable  disputes. 

"Upon  the  third  article,  they  remark,  that  the  transferring  of  per 
sonal  sin,  or  righteousness,  has  never  been  held  by  Calvinistic  divines, 
nor  by  any  person  in  our  Church,  so  far  as  is  known  to  us,  and  therefore 
that  Mr.  Balch's  observations  on  that  subject  appear  to  be  either  nuga 
tory  or  calculated  to  mislead.  But  with  regard  to  his  doctrine  of  original 
sin,  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  he  is  erroneous  in  representing  personal 
corruption  as  not  derived  from  Adam  ;  making  Adam's  sin  to  be  imputed 
to  his  posterity,  in  consequence  of  a  corrupt  nature  already  possessed, 
and  derived  from  we  know  not  what ;  thus,  in  effect,  setting  aside  the 
idea  of  Adam's  being  the  federal  head  or  representative  of  his  descen 
dants,  and  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  covenant  of  works. 

"  It  is  also  manifest  that  Mr.  Balch  is  greatly  erroneous  in  asserting 
that  the  formal  cause  of  a  believer's  justification  is  the  imputation  of  the 
fruits  and  effects  of  Christ's  righteousness,  and  not  that  righteousness 
itself;  because  righteousness,  and  that  alone,  is  the  formal  demand  of 
the  law,  and  consequently  the  sinner's  violation  of  the  divine  law  can  be 
pardoned  only  in  virtue  of  the  Redeemer's  perfect  righteousness  being 
imputed  to  him,  and  reckoned  as  his.  It  is  also  not  true,  that  the 
benefits  of  Christ's  righteousness  are,  with  strict  propriety,  said  to  be 
imputed  at  all;  as  these  benefits  flow  to,  and  are  possessed  by,  the 
believer  as  a  consequence  of  his  justification,  and  having  an  interest  in 
the  infinite  merits  of  the  Saviour. 

11  On  article  fourth,  no  remark  is  necessary. 

"  With  regard  to  the  fifth  article,  they  remark,  that  Mr.  Balch  appears 
to  confound  sentiment  with  the  mere  perception  of  truth,  whereas  it 
always  partakes  of  the  disposition  of  the  heart,  and  consequently  involves 
in  it  either  sin  or  holiness.  The  article,  as  stated  by  him,  contradicts 
the  principle  laid  down  in  the  introduction  to  our  Form  of  Government, 
and  levels  the  important  distinction  between  truth  and  falsehood,  so  as 
to  be  liable  to  the  construction  that  it  is  no  matter  what  a  man  believes. 
And  though  Mr.  Balch  may  not,  and  probably  did  not,  intend  to  insinu 
ate  anything  disrespectful  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  where  he  asserts  that 
'  there  are  wrong  sentiments  in  the  Bible/  yet,  as  his  expression  is  liable 
to  such  a  construction,  we  judge  it  highly  censurable. 

"  With  regard  to  the  sixth  and  seventh  articles,  no  remarks  seem  to 
be  necessary,  except  that  the  offence  given  by  the  reflection  cast  on  his 


VIII. — DELIVERANCES   ON   DOCTRINE.  801 

brethren,  the  Presbyterians,  in  the  seventh,  has  been  sufficiently  removed 
by  his  candid  acknowledgment  before  the  Synod  and  General  Assembly. 

"  The  eighth,  ninth,  and  tenth  articles  require  no  remark,  except  that 
they  appear  to  be  unimportant. 

"  With  regard  to  the  twelfth  article,  it  is  remarked,  that  his  observation 
upon  love,  as  exercised  by  the  human  race,  so  far  as  it  may  be  applicable 
to  a  state  of  infancy,  is  unintelligible ;  and  that,  though  a  distinction 
may  be  made  between  regeneration  and  conversion,  yet  the  terms  in. 
•which  the  article  is  expressed  are  exceptionable,  as  they  seem  to  dis 
courage  the  use  of  the  means  of  grace. 

"  With  regard  to  the  thirteenth  article,  it  is  remarked,  that  in  making 
repentance  and  faith  to  proceed  wholly  from  love  or  charity,  Mr.  Balch 
has  expressed  an  opinion  unnecessary  and  improper. 

"In  regard  to  the  subject  of  false  doctrine,  in  discoursing  from  Psalm 
51 :  5,  and  Isa.  48  :  8,  nothing  seems  necessary  to  be  added  to  the  remarks 
made  on  the  subject  of  original  sin,  as  contained  in  Mr.  Balch's  creed, 
except  that  he  charges  Calvinistic  divines  with  holding  sentiments 
relative  to  infants  which  they  do  not  hold ;  and  that  he  makes  posi 
tive  declarations  in  regard  to  the  state  of  infants,  when  it  has  pleased  a 
wise  and  holy  God  to  be  silent  on  this  subject  in  the  revelation  of  his 
will 

"  On  the  whole,  your  committee  recommend  that  Mr.  Balch  be  re 
quired  to  acknowledge  before  the  Assembly  that  he  was  wrong  in  the 
publication  of  his  creed ',  that  in  the  particulars  specified  above,  he 
renounce  the  errors  pointed  out ;  that  he  engage  to  teach  nothing  here 
after  of  a  similar  nature;  that  the  moderator  admonish  him  of  the 
divisions,  disorder,  trouble,  and  inconvenience  which  he  has  occasioned 
to  the  Church  and  its  judicatories  by  his  imprudent  and  unwarrantable 
conduct,  and  warn  him  against  doing  anything  in  time  to  come  that  may 
tend  to  produce  such  serious  and  lamentable  evils. 

"  That  if  Mr.  Balch  submit  to  this,  he  be  considered  as  in  good  stand 
ing  with  the  Church,  and  that  the  reference  and  queries  of  the  Synod 
of  the  Carolinas  be  considered  as  fully  answered  by  the  adoption  of 
these  measures." — Minutes,  1798,  pp.  155,  156. 

[Mr.  Balch  appeared  before  the  Assembly,  and  acknowledged  that  he 
was  wrong  in  publishing  his  creed,  and  did  "solemnly  declare,  as  in  the 
presence  of  his  final  Judge,  that  he  never  did  entertain  the  ideas  nor 
intend  to  teach  the  doctrines  which  are  pointed  out  as  errors  by  the 
Assembly."  He  was  accordingly  solemnly  admonished  and  declared  to 
be  in  good  standing  with  the  Church.] — Minutes,  1798,  p.  158. 


802  VIII. — DELIVERANCES    ON   DOCTRINE. 


5.    Case  of  Rev.  William  C.  Davis. 

"The  overture  from  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas,  which  had  been 
laid  on  the  table,  referring  to  the  Assembly  an  overture  laid  before  that 
Synod,  requesting  their  attention  to  a  late  publication  of  the  Rev.  W. 
C.  Davis,  denominated  the  'Gospel  Plan/  was  read;  Messrs.  Robert  G. 
Wilson,  Calhoun,  and  Anderson  were  appointed  a  committee  to  examine 
said  book  and  report  to  this  Assembly  the  doctrines  it  contains,  if  any 
such  they  find,  that  are  contrary  to  the  standards  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

"The  report  of  the  committee  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"  The  committee,  presuming  that  a  complete  and  perfect  enumeration 
of  all  the  objectionable  parts  of  said  book  is  not  expected,  called  the 
attention  of  the  Assembly  only  to  the  following  doctrines,  supposed  to 
be  contrary  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church : 

"  Doctrine  I.  That  the  active  obedience  of  Christ  constitutes  no  part 
of  that  righteousness  by  which  a  sinner  is  justified,  pp.  257,  261,  264, 
3d  corollary. 

"Doctrine  II.  That  obedience  to  the  moral  law  was  not  required  as 
the  condition  of  the  covenant  of  works,  pp.  178,  180. 

"  These  pages  being  read,  the  Assembly  resolved  that  they  do  con 
sider  these  doctrines  as  contrary  to  the  Confession  of  our  Church. 

"  Doctrine  III.  God  himself  is  as  firmly  bound  in  duty  (not  obedi 
ence)  to  his  creatures,  as  his  creatures  are  bound  in  obedience  or  duty 
to  him,  pp.  164,  166.  Also,  that  God's  will  is  not  the  standard  of  right 
and  wrong.  If  God's  will  is  the  primary  rule  of  his  own  actions,  he 
would  be  :  1st.  Entirely  void  of  holiness;  2d.  There  could  be  no  justice 
in  God;  3d.  It  would  be  impossible  for  God  to  be  unchangeable;  4th. 
If  the  will  of  God  is  the  standard  of  right  and  wrong,  then  it  would 
be  no  infringement  on  the  divine  character  to  be  unfaithful  to  his  word 
and  promise,  pp.  168-171. 

"  These  pages  were  read, 

"Resolved,  That,  without  deciding  on  the  question  whether  these 
sentiments,  are  contrary  to  our  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Assembly  con 
sider  the  mode  in  which  they  are  expressed  as  unhappy,  and  calculated 
to  mislead  the  reader. 

"Doctrine  IV.  God  could  not  make  Adam,  or  any  other  creature, 
either  holy  or  unholy.  Compare  page  194  with  166. 


VIII. — DELIVERANCES    ON   DOCTRINE.  303 

"  Doctrine  V.  Regeneration  must  be  a  consequence  of  faith.  Faith 
precedes  regeneration,  p.  352. 

"  Doctrine  VI.  Faith,  in  the  first  act  of  it,  is  not  a  holy  act,  p.  358, 
&c. 

"These  pages  being  read, 

"Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  do  consider  the  three  last-mentioned 
doctrines  contrary  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  our  Church. 

"  Doctrine  VII.  Christians  may  sin  wilfully  and  habitually,  pp.  532, 
534. 

"  These  pages  being  read, 

"Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  consider  the  expressions  in  the  pages 
referred  to  as  very  unguarded  j  and  so  far  as  they  intimate  it  to  be  the 
author's  opinion  that  a  person  may  live  in  an  habitual  and  allowed  sin, 
and  yet  be  a  Christian,  the  Assembly  considers  them  contrary  to  the 
letter  and  spirit  of  the  Confession  of  -Faith  of  our  Church,  and  in  their 
tendency  highly  dangerous. 

"  Doctrine  VIII.  If  God  has  to  plant  all  the  principal  parts  of  salva 
tion  in  a  sinner's  heart  to  enable  him  to  believe,  the  '  Gospel  Plan5  is 
quite  out  of  his  reach,  and  consequently  does  not  suit  his  case ;  and  it 
must  be  impossible  for  God  to  condemn  a  man  for  unbelief,  for  no  just 
law  condemns  or  criminates  any  person  for  not  doing  what  he  cannot  do, 
p.  413. 

"This  page,  and  several  others  on  the  same  subject,  being  read, 

"Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  do  consider  this  last-mentioned  doc 
trine  contrary  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  our  Church. 

"On  the  whole, 

"Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  cannot  but  view  with  disapprobation, 
various  parts  of  the  work  entitled  '  The  Gospel  Plan/  of  which  William 
C.  Davis  is  stated  in  the  title-page  to  be  the  author.  In  several  instances 
in  this  work,  modes  of  expression  are  adopted  so  different  from  those 
which  are  sanctioned  by  use  and  by  the  best  orthodox  writers,  that  the 
Assembly  consider  them  as  calculated  to  produce  useless  or  mischievous 
speculations. 

"  In  several  other  instances,  there  are  doctrines  asserted  and  advo 
cated,  as  has  been  already  decided,  contrary  to  the  Confession  of  Faith 
of  our  Church,  and  the  word  of  God;  which  doctrines  the  Assembly 
feel  constrained  to  pronounce  to  be  of  very  dangerous  tendency;  and  the 
Assembly  do  judge,  and  do  hereby  declare,  that  the  preaching  or  pub 
lishing  of  them,  ought  to  subject  the  person  or  persons  so  doing  to  be 


304  VIII. — DELIVERANCES    ON   DOCTRINE. 

dealt  with  by  their  respective  Presbyteries,  according  to  the  discipline 
of  the  Church,  relative  to  the  propagation  of  errors." — Minutes,  1810, 
pp.  448,  452,  453. 

6.    Case  of  Rev.  Thomas  B.  Craighead. 

[On  an  appeal  from  the  Synod  of  Kentucky.  After  speaking  of 
certain  irregularities  in  the  conduct  both  of  the  Synod  and  of  the  appel 
lant,  the  committee  say :] 

"  But  from  matters  of  form,  the  General  Assembly  will  now  pass  to 
the  merits  of  the  case ;  and,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  the  first  and  second 
charges  only  shall  be  brought  into  view. 

"Charge  1.  We  charge  him  with  denying  and  vilifying  the  real 
agency  of  the  Spirit  in  regeneration,  and  in  the  production  of  faith  and 
sanctification  in  general. 

"  And  first,  they  would  observe,  that  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  the 
denial  of  the  real  agency  of  the  Spirit  is  a  dangerous  and  fundamental 
error  ;  and  if  Mr.  Craighead  taught  such  an  error,  he  ought  to  have 
been  suspended. 

"  The  question  then  is :  Do  the  passages  of  Mr.  Craighead's  sermon, 
referred  to  in  the  charge,  prove  that  he  did  deny  the  reality  of  the  ope 
rations  of  the  Spirit  ? 

"Here,  it  will  be  important  to  remark,  that  a  man  cannot  fairly  be 
convicted  of  heresy,  for  using  expressions  which  may  be  so  interpreted 
as  to  involve  heretical  doctrines,  if  they  may  also  admit  of  a  more 
favorable  construction :  because,  no  one  can  tell  in  what  sense  an 
ambiguous  expression  is  used,  but  the  speaker  or  writer,  and  he  has  a 
right  to  explain  himself;  and  in  such  cases,  candor  requires  that  a  court 
should  favor  the  accused,  by  putting  on  his  words  the  more  favorable, 
rather  than  the  less  favorable  construction. 

"  Another  principle  is,  that  no  man  can  rightly  be  convicted  of  heresy 
by  inference  or  implication ;  that  is,  we  must  not  charge  an  accused 
person  with  holding  those  consequences  which  may  legitimately  flow 
from  his  assertions.  Many  men  are  grossly  inconsistent  with  themselves; 
and  while  it  is  right,  in  argument,  to  overthrow  false  opinions,  by  tracing 
them  in  their  connections  and  consequences,  it  is  not  right  to  charge 
any  man  with  an  opinion  which  he  disavows. 

"  With  these  principles  in  view,  the  General  Assembly  proceed  to 
observe,  that  there  is  abundant  evidence,  that  Mr.  Craighead  did  deny 


VIII. — DELIVERANCES   ON    DOCTRINE.  305 

the  immediate  agency  of  the  Spirit,  but  no  clear  evidence  that  he  denied 
the  real  agency  of  the  Spirit.  These  are  very  different  things,  and  the 
proof  of  the  one,  does  by  no  means  establish  the  other.  Immediate 
agency  or  operation,  is  opposed  to  mediate.  This  is  a  well-known  dis 
tinction  in  theology;  and  a  point  which  has  been  greatly  controverted. 
The  Reformed  Church,  of  which  ours  is  a  part,  in  all  their  purest  times, 
maintained  the  doctrine  of  the  immediate  operation  of  the  Spirit,  not 
without  the  word,  but  distinct  from  it,  and  in  the  order  of  nature  pre 
ceding  it.  Other  Protestant  churches,  never  charged  with  fundamental 
error,  have  as  uniformly  maintained  the  doctrine  of  a  mediate  agency; 
and  those  commonly  believe,  that  this  operation  is  not  occasional,  but 
uniform,  and  diversified  in  its  effects,  by  the  difference  of  resistance 
with  which  it  meets.  Neither  the  Presbytery  nor  the  Synod  appear  to 
have  attended  sufficiently  to  this  distinction.  They  appear  to  have 
thought,  that  a  denial  of  immediate  agency  was  a  denial  of  all  real 
agency.  It  deserves  special  regard  here,  that  our  Confession  takes  no 
notice  of  these  nice  distinctions,  about  the  mode  in  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  operates.  It  usually  mentions  the  word  and  the  Spirit  together, 
and  the  former  as  the  instrument  of  the  latter.  And  they  who  believe 
in  the  immediate  agency  of  the  Spirit  do  not  exclude  the  instrumentality 
of  the  word ;  they  however  explain  it  in  a  different  way  from  those  who 
hold,  that  there  is  no  agency  of  the  Spirit,  distinct  from  the  word.  But 
this  is  the  more  favorable  construction ;  there  is  another,  which  if  not 
more  probable,  is  more  obvious.  Mr.  Craighead  may  be  understood  as 
teaching,  that  the  only  real  agency  of  the  Spirit  was  in  inspiring  the 
Scriptures,  and  confirming  them  by  signs  and  miracles.  There  is  much 
in  his  discourse  that  has  this  bearing;  and  undoubtedly  this  is  the 
common  impression  among  the  people  where  it  is  best  known.  This 
was  the  idea  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  when  they  condemned  him; 
and  this  is,  in  fact,  denying  the  reality  of  the  operation  of  the  Spirit, 
in  our  days :  and  whether  his  expressions  have  been  fairly  interpreted 
or  not,  they  are  dangerous,  and  ought  to  be  condemned.  In  justice  to 
Mr.  Craighead,  however,  it  ought  to  be  remembered,  that  he  utterly 
disclaims  this  meaning,  in  his  defence  sent  up  to  this  Assembly.  And 
would  it  be  fair  to  continue  to  charge  upon  him  opinions  which  he 
solemnly  disavows?  Of  the  sincerity  of  his  disavowal,  God  is  the 
judge.  The  conclusion  is,  that  the  first  charge,  though  supported  by 
strong  probabilities,  is  not  so  conclusively  established  as  to  remove  all 

20 


306  VIII. — DELIVERANCES    ON    DOCTRINE. 

doubt,  because  the  words  adduced  in  proof,  will  bear  a  different  con 
struction  from  that  put  on  them  by  the  Presbytery  and  Synod. 

"  The  evidence  in  support  of  the  second  charge  is  still  less  clear  and 
conclusive.  The  charge  is — 

11  i  We  charge  him  with  denying,  vilifying,  and  misrepresenting  the 
doctrine  of  divine  foreordination,  and  sovereignty,  and  election/ 

"  It  might,  perhaps,  be  shown  by  argument,  that  Mr.  Craighead  uses 
many  expressions  not  consistent  with  these  doctrines;  but  agreeably  to 
the  principle  laid  down  above,  he  must  not  be  charged  with  holding 
these  consequences,  unless  he  has  avowed  them.  These  passages  of  his 
discourse,  it  is  true,  contain  erroneous  and  offensive  things,  but  they  do 
not  establish  the  charge  of  denying,  vilifying,  &c.  In  one  single  in 
stance,  he  seems  to  deny  that  everything  should  be  referred  to  the  sove 
reignty  of  God's  will ;  but  the  words,  in  their  connection,  may  have  an 
innocent  meaning.  Here  again  it  must  be  observed,  that  Mr.  Craighead 
solemnly  declares  his  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  decrees  and  election,  as 
expressed  in  our  standards. 

"  But  whilst  the  General  Assembly  are  of  opinion  that  the  charges 
against  Mr.  Craighead  are  not  clearly  and  fully  supported  by  the  refe 
rences,  they  feel  it  to  be  their  duty  to  say,  that  the  impression  which 
they  have  received  from  hearing  extracts  from  this  discourse  are  very 
unfavorable ;  and  they  do  believe  that  Mr.  Craighead,  by  preaching  and 
printing  this  sermon,  did  subject  himself  justly  to  censure. 

"  Moreover,  the  Assembly  are  of  opinion,  that  the  doctrines  of  this 
sermon,  in  the  most  favorable  construction,  are  different  from  those  of 
the  Reformed  Churches,  and  of  our  Church,  and  are  erroneous ;  although 
the  error  is  not  of  fundamental  importance.  They  have  observed,  also, 
that  this  discourse  contains  many  unjust  and  illiberal  reflections  on  the 
doctrines  which  have  been  the  common  and  uniform  belief  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  preachers  and  writers  of  the  Reformed  Churches.  He 
mentions  the  names  of  a  few  persons  as  favoring  the  doctrine  which  he 
opposes  j  but  he  might  have  put  into  the  list  almost  every  standard 
writer  of  our  own  and  sister  churches,  since  the  Reformation. 

"  The  sermon  also  contains  much  declamation  which  confounds  fanati 
cism  and  piety;  and  representations  of  opinions  which  are  true  and  im 
portant,  so  associated  with  error  and  absurdity,  as  to  exhibit  them  in  a 
ridiculous  and  odious  light. 

"  Finally,  the  General  Assembly  are  deeply  impressed  with  the  evi 
dences  of  an  improper  spirit,  and  an  evil  tendency  in  this  sermon,  and 


VIII. — DELIVERANCES  ON   DOCTRINE.  307 

are  of  opinion  that  Mr.  Craighead  ought  so  to  retract  or  to  explain  his 
sentiments,  as  to  afford  reasonable  satisfaction  to  his  brethren/7 — 
Minutes,  1824,  pp.  122-124. 

[The  case  was  transmitted  to  the  Presbytery  of  West  Tennessee,  which 
was  ordered,  on  satisfactory  explanations  and  retractions,  to  restore  him 
to  the  ministry,  from  which  he  had  been  suspended.  Mr.  Craighead 
was  restored.] 

7.    Case  of  Rev.  Albert  Barnes. 

[On  an  appeal  from  the  action  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  suspend 
ing  him  from  the  Gospel  ministry,  the  appeal  was  sustained,  Yeas,  134 ; 
Nays,  96;  and  the  decision  of  the  Synod  reversed,  Yeas,  145;  Nays,  78. 
The  following  resolution  was  then  offered  by  Dr.  Miller,  viz.  :] 

"Resolved,  That  while  this  General  Assembly  has  thought  proper  to 
remove  the  sentence  of  suspension  under  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barnes 
was  placed  by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia ;  yet  the  judgment  of  the  As 
sembly  is,  that  Mr.  Barnes,  in  his  notes  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
has  published  opinions  materially  at  variance  with  the  Confession  of 
Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  with  the  word  of  God, — espe 
cially  with  regard  to  original  sin,  the  relation  of  man  to  Adam,  and 
justification  by  faith  in  the  atoning  sacrifice  and  righteousness  of  the 
Redeemer.  The  Assembly  consider  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Barnes 
has  controverted  the  language  and  Doctrine  of  our  public  standards,  as 
highly  reprehensible,  and  as  adapted  to  pervert  the  minds  of  the  rising 
generation  from  the  simplicity  and  purity  of  the  Gospel  plan.  And 
although  some  of  the  most  objectionable  statements  and  expressions 
which  appeared  in  the  earlier  editions  of  the  work  in  question  have  been 
either  removed,  or  so  far  modified  or  explained  as  to  render  them  more 
in  accordance  with  our  public  formularies,  still  the  Assembly  considers 
the  work,  even  in  its  present  amended  form,  as  containing  representa 
tions  which  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  letter  or  spirit  of  our  public 
standards,  and  would  solemnly  admonish  Mr.  Barnes  again  to  review 
this  work,  to  modify  still  further  the  statements  which  have  grieved  his 
brethren,  and  to  be  more  careful  in  time  to  come  to  study  the  purity 
and  peace  of  the  Church. 

"  After  considerable  discussion,  the  previous  question  was  moved  and 
carried,  to  put  the  main  question. 

"  The  main  question  was  then  put,  on  the  adoption  of  the  above  rcso- 


308  VIII. — DELIVERANCES   ON   DOCTRINE. 

lution,  offered  by  Dr.  Miller,  and  was  decided  in  the  negative,  as  fol 
lows,  viz. :  Yeas,  109;  Nays,  122."— Minutes,  1836,  p.  270. 

[To  this  action  two  protests  were  offered  and  entered  on  the  Minutes. 
The  following  reply  of  the  Assembly  to  the  protests  gives  the  only  view, 
found  on  the  Minutes,  of  the  merits  of  the  case  :] 

"  In  reply  to  the  two  protests  of  the  minority,  against  the  decision  of 
the  Assembly  in  refusing  to  censure  the  first  edition  of  Barnes's  Notes 
on  the  Romans,  the  Assembly  remark : 

"  1.  That  by  their  decision  they  do  not  intend  to,  and  do  not,  in  fact, 
make  themselves  responsible  for  all  the  phraseology  of  Mr.  Barnes ; 
some  of  which  is  not  sufficiently  guarded,  and  is  liable  to  be  misunder 
stood;  and  which  we  doubt  not  Mr.  Barnes,  with  reference  to  his  use 
fulness  and  the  peace  of  the  Church,  will  modify  so  as  to  prevent,  as 
far  as  may  be,  the  possibility  of  misconception. 

"2.  Much  less  do  the  Assembly  adopt  as  doctrines,  consistent  with 
our  standards,  and  to  be  tolerated  in  our  Church,  the  errors  alleged  by 
the  prosecutor,  as  contained  in  the  book  on  the  Romans.  It  was  a 
question  of  fact,  whether  the  errors  alleged  are  contained  in  the  book ; 
and  by  the  laws  of  exposition,  in  conscientious  exercise  of  their  own 
rights  and  duties,  the  Assembly  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
book  does  not  teach  the  errors  charged.  This  judgment  of  the  Assembly 
is  based  on  this  maxim  of  equity  and  charity,  adopted  by  the  Assembly 
of  1824,  in  the  case  of  Craighead,  which  is  as  follows,  namely  :  *  A  man 
cannot  be  fairly  convicted  of  heresy  for  using  expressions  which  may  be 
so  interpreted  as  to  involve  heretical  doctrines,  if  they  also  admit  of  a 
more  favorable  construction.  It  is  not  right  to  charge  any  man  with  an 
opinion  which  he  disavows/  The  import  of  this  is,  that  when  language 
claimed  to  be  heretical  admits,  without  violence,  of  an  orthodox  exposi 
tion,  and  the  accused  disclaims  the  alleged  error,  and  claims  as  his  mean 
ing  the  orthodox  interpretation,  he  is  entitled  to  it,  and  it  is  to  be  re 
garded  as  the  true  intent  and  import  of  his  words.  But  in  the  case  of 
the  first  edition  of  the  Notes  on  the  Romans,  the  language  is,  without 
violence,  reconcilable  with  an  interpretation  conformable  to  our  standards; 
and,  therefore,  all  the  changes  of  phraseology  which  he  has  subsequently 
made,  and  all  his  disclaimers  before  the  Assembly,  and  all  his  definite 
and  unequivocal  declarations  of  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  his 
words  in  the  first  edition,  are  to  be  taken  as  ascertaining  his  true  mean 
ing,  and  forbid  the  Assembly  to  condemn  the  book  as  teaching  great 
and  dangerous  errors. 


VHI. — DELIVERANCES    ON   DOCTRINE.  309 

"  3.  When  the  Assembly  sustained  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Barnes,  by  a 
majority  of  thirty-eight ;  and  by  a  majority  of  sixty-seven  removed  the 
sentence  of  his  suspension,  and  restored  him  in  good  standing  to  the 
ministry,  it  is  not  competent  for  the  same  judicature,  by  the  condemna 
tion  of  the  book,  to  inflict  on  Mr.  Barnes  indirectly,  but  really,  a  sen 
tence  of  condemnation,  as  direct  in  its  effects,  and  as  prostrating  to  his 
character  and  usefulness,  as  if  it  had  been  done  directly,  by  refusing  to 
sustain  his  appeal,  and  by  confirming  the  sentence  of  the  Synod  of  Phi 
ladelphia;  and  what  this  Assembly  has  declared  that  it  cannot  in  equity 
do  directly,  it  cannot,  in  equity  or  consistency,  attempt  to  do  indirectly. 

"  4.  The  proposed  condemnation  of  Mr.  Barnes's  book,  as  containing 
errors  materially  at  variance  with  the  doctrines  of  our  standards,  after 
sustaining  his  appeal,  and  restoring  him  to  good  standing  in  the  minis 
try,  would  be  a  direct  avowal  that  great  and  dangerous  errors  may  be 
published  and  maintained  with  impunity  in  the  Church.  For  if  the 
book  does  in  fact  inculcate  such  errors,  it  were  wrong  to  attempt  to  de 
stroy  the  book  and  spare  the  man.  If  the  charges  are  real,  they  are 
not  accidental.  Therefore,  should  the  Assembly  decide  the  alleged 
errors  of  the  book  to  be  real,  it  would,  by  its  past  decision,  declare  that 
a  man  suspended  for  great  and  pernicious  errors,  may  be  released  from 
censure,  and  restored  to  an  unembarrassed  standing  in  the  ministry;  a 
decision  to  which  this  Assembly  can  never  give  its  sanction. 

"  5.  The  attempt  to  condemn  Mr.  Barnes,  by  a  condemnation  of  his 
book,  after  he  had  been  acquitted  on  a  hearing  on  charges  wholly 
founded  on  the  book,  is  a  violation  of  the  fundamental  maxim  of  law, 
that  no  man  shall  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  for  the  same  offence;  and  if 
it  were  otherwise,  and  the  man  might  be  tried  in  his  person,  and  tried 
on  his  book,  the  same  process  of  specification  and  defence  is  due  to  per 
sonal  and  public  justice. 

il  6.  So  far  is  the  Assembly  from  countenancing  the  errors  alleged  in 
the  charges  of  Dr.  Jnnkin,  that  they  do  cordially  and  ex  ammo  adopt 
the  Confession  of  our  Church,  on  the  points  of  doctrine  in  question, 
according  to  the  obvious  and  most  prevalent  interpretation,  and  do  regard 
it,  as  a  whole,  as  the  best  epitome  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  ever 
formed.  And  this  Assembly  disavows  any  desire,  and  would  deprecate 
any  attempt,  to  change  the  phraseology  of  our  standards,  and  would 
disapprove  of  any  language  of  light  estimation  applied  to  them  ;  believing 
that  no  denomination  can  prosper  whose  members  permit  themselves  to 


310  Till.  —  DELIVERANCES    ON    DOCTRINE. 

speak  slightly  of  its  formularies  of  doctrine  ;  and  are  ready  to  unite  with 
their  brethren  in  contending  earnestly  for  the  faith  of  our  standards. 

"  7.  The  correctness  of  the  preceding  positions  is  confirmed,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Assembly,  by  a  careful  analysis  of  the  real  meaning  of 
Mr.  Barnes  under  each  charge,  as  ascertained  by  the  language  of  his 
book,  and  the  revisions,  disclaimers,  explanations,  and  declarations  which 
he  has  made. 

"  In  respect  to  the  first  charge,  that  Mr.  Barnes  teaches  that  all  sin  is 
voluntary,  the  context  and  his  own  declarations  show  that  he  refers  to 
all  actual  sin  merely,  in  which  he  affirms  the  sinner  acts  under  no  com 
pulsion. 

"  The  second  charge  implies  neither  heresy  nor  errors,  but  relates  to 
the  expression  of  an  opinion  on  a  matter,  concerning  which  no  definite 
instruction  is  contained,  either  in  the  Bible  or  in  the  Confession  of 
Faith. 

"  In  respect  to  the  third  charge,  Mr.  Barnes  has  not  taught  that  un- 

regenerate  men  are  able,  in  the  sense  alleged,  to  keep  the  command 

ments,  and  convert  themselves  to  God.     It  is  an  inference  of  the  pro 

secutor  from  the  doctrine  of  natural  ability,  as  taught  by  Edwards,  and 

of  the  natural  liberty  of  the  will,  as  taught  in  the  Confession  of  Faith, 

chap,  ix,  sec.  1.     On  the  contrary,  he  does  teach  in  accordance  with  our 

.          standards,  that  man,  bjrthejfkllj  hath  wholly  lost  all  ability  of  will  to 

—---  any  spiritual  good  accompanying  salvation. 

*"  /       "In  respect  to  the  fourth  charge,  that  faith  is  an  act  of  the  mind, 

Mr.  Barnes  does  teach  it  in  accordance  with  the  Confession  of  Faith 

1/vAr   i    and  the  Bible  ;  but  he  does  not  deny  that  faith  is  a  fruit  of  the  special 

*s  Wff-^fnfluence  of  the  Spirit,  and  a  permanent  holy  habit  of  mind,  in  opposi- 

££-',         tion  to  a  created  physical  essence.     That  faith  f  is  counted  for  righteous- 

/    >-p    ness/  is  the  language  of  the  Bible,  and,  as  used  by  Mr.  Barnes,  means, 

'    not  that  faith  is  the  meritorious  ground  of  justification,  but  only  the 

ti***      instrument  by  which  the  benefit  of  Christ's  righteousness  is  appro- 

?W  -  Priatedl 

"  In  respect  to  the  fifth  charge,  Mr.  Barnes  nowhere  denies,  much 

less  '  sneers'  at  the  idea  that  Adam  was  the  covenant  and  federal  head 
of  his  posterity.     On  the  contrary,  though  he  employs  not  these  terms, 


in  other  language,  teach  the  same  truths  which  are  taught  by 
^s\  ex...  ^this  phraseology. 

"In  respect  to  the  sixth  and  seventh  charges,  that  the  sin  of  Adam 
.     is  not  imputed  to  his  posterity,  and  that  mankind  are  not  guilty  or  liable 


/—••—-       \^lt~     »~-      w-     £,  ^      —-    -  r     /  '  C> 

wv  A^,    ^  c^-     f~  .<?  A     rt^/^ 

-^?  ^ 


/r<U    <^  (X^     Vv^  A*       ^  0^7        J-    5  ^ 


VIII.  —  DELIVERANCES    ON    DOCTRINE.  3  LJt 

//  $. 

to  punishment  on  account  of  the  first  sin  of  Adam,  it  is  to  be  observed, 
that  it  is  not  taught  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  that  the  sin  of  Adam  is 
imputed  to  his  posterity.  The  imputation  of  the  guilt"  of  Adam's  sin, 
Mr.  Barnes  affirms,  though  not  as  including  personal  identity  and  the 
transfer  of  moral  qualities,  both  of  which  are  disclaimed  by  our  standard 
writers,  and  by  the  General  Assembly. 

"  In  respect  to   the  eighth  charge,  that  Christ  did  not  suffer  the 

i  c    /  .  g> 

penalty  of  the  law,  as  the  vicarious  substitute  of  his  people,  Mr.  Barnes      >v  x. 
only  denies  the  literal  infliction  of  the  whole  curse,  as  including  remorse   v\ 
of  conscience  and  eternal  death  ;  but  admits  and  teaches,  that  the  suffer 
ings  of  Christ,  owing  to  the  union  of  the  divine  and  human  natures  in  ^ 
the  person  of  the  Mediator,  were  a  full  equivalent.       ^ 

"  In  respect  to  the  ninth  charge,  that  the  righteousness  of  Christ  is   ^  ' 
not  imputed  to  his  people,  Mr.  Barnes  teaches  the  imputation  of  the  *»~* 
righteousness  of  Christ,  but  not  as  importing  a  transfer  of  Christ's  per-  y 
sonal  righteousness  to  believers,  which  is  not  the  doctrine  of  our  Church. 
And  when  he  says,  that  there  is  no  sense  in  which  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  becomes  ours,  the  context  and  his  own  declarations  show  that  he 
simply  means  to  deny  a  literal  transfer  of  his  obedience  ;  which,  on  the^ 
contrary,  he  teaches  is  so  imputed  or  set  to  our  account  as  to  become,  ^'^ 
the  only  meritorious  cause  or  ground  of  our  justification.  '       >  .. 

11  In  respect  to  the  tenth  charge,  Mr.  Barnes  has  not  taught  that  justi-  ffc^ 
fication  consists  in  pardon  only;  but  has  taught  clearly  that  it  includes^,***.)  ^ 
the  reception  of  believers  into  favor,  and  their  treatment  as  if  they  hadA»-»  &i* 
not  sinned."—  Minutes,  1836,  pp.  287-289. 


8.    Testimony  against  certain  Disorders  and  Irregularities. 

"Whereas,  It  is  represented  to  the  Assembly,  that  the  following  disV4'"*~v 
orders  and  irregularities  are  practised  in  some  portions  of  the  Presby"* 
terian  Church,  the  Assembly,  without  determining  the  extent  of  them,/ 
would  solemnly  warn  all  in  our  connection  against  them.     They  are  as      .T 
follows,  viz.  : 

"1.  The  formation  of  Presbyteries  without  defined  and  reasonable' 
limits,  or  Presbyteries  covering  the  same  territory,  and  especially  such  a 
formation  founded  on  doctrinal  repulsions  or  affinities,  thus  introducing  ; 
schism  into  the  very  vitals  of  the  body. 

"2.  The  licensing  of  persons  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  the  ordaining../  ,  .  .. 
to  the  office  of  the  ministry  such  as  not  only  accept  of  our  standards  (£/M_  \ 


fi 


/// 

fi~i  J-f 


312  VIII. — DELIVERANCES   ON   DOCTRINE. 

merely  for  substance  of  doctrine,  and  others  who  are  unfit  and  ought  to 
be  excluded  for  want  of  qualification,  but  of  many  even  who  openly  deny 
fundamental  principles  of  truth,  and  preach  and  publish  radical  errors, 
as  already  set  forth. 

"3.  The  formation  of  a  great  multitude  and  variety  of  creeds,  which 
are  often  incomplete,  false,  and  contradictory  of  each  other,  and  of  our 
Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Bible  j  but  which,  even  if  true,  are  needless, 
seeing  that  the  public  and  authorized  standards  of  the  Church  are  fully 
sufficient  for  the  purposes  for  which  such  formularies  were  introduced, 
namely,  as  public  testimonies  of  our  faith  and  practice,  as  aids  to  the 
teaching  of  the  people  truth  and  righteousness,  and  as  instruments  for 
ascertaining  and  preserving  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bonds  of  peace, 
it  being  understood  that  we  do  not  object  to  the  use  of  a  brief  abstract 
of  the  doctrines  of  our  Confession  of  Faith  in  the  public  reception  of 
private  members  of  the  Church. 

"  4.  The  needless  ordination  of  a  multitude  of  men  to  the  office  of 
Evangelist,  and  the  consequent  tendency  to  a  general  neglect  of  the 
pastoral  office  ;  frequent  and  hurtful  changes  of  pastoral  relations ;  to  the 
multiplication  of  spurious  excitements,  and  the  consequent  spread  of 
heresy  and  fanaticism, — thus  weakening  and  bringing  into  contempt  the 
ordinary  and  stated  agents  and  means  for  the  conversion  of  sinners,  and 
the  edification  of  the  body  of  Christ. 

"  5.  The  disuse  of  the  office  of  Ruling  Elder  in  portions  of  the  Church, 
and  the  consequent  growth  of  practices  and  principles  entirely  foreign 
to  our  system ;  thus  depriving  the  pastors  of  needful  assistants  in  disci 
pline,  the  people  of  proper  guides  in  Christ,  and  the  churches  of  suitable 
representatives  in  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals. 

"  6.  The  unlimited  and  irresponsible  power  assumed  by  several  asso 
ciations  of  men  under  various  names,  to  exercise  authority  and  influence, 
direct  and  indirect,  over  Presbyteries,  as  to  their  field  of  labor,  place  of 
residence,  and  mode  of  action  in  the  difficult  circumstances  of  our 
Church  j  thus  actually  throwing  the  control  of  affairs,  in  large  portions 
of  the  Church,  and  sometimes  in  the  General  Assembly  itself,  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  Presbyteries  into  those  of  single  individuals  or  small 
committees,  located  at  a  distance/' — Minutes^  1837,  p.  471. 

9.    Testimony  against  Doctrinal  Errors. 

"  As  one  of  the  principal  objects  of  the  memorialists  is  to  point  out 
certain  errors,  more  or  less  prevalent  in  our  Church,  and  to  bear  testi- 


VIII. — DELIVERANCES    ON    DOCTRINE.  313 

mony  against  them,  your  committee  are  of  opinion,  that  as  one  great 
object  of  the  institution  of  the  Church  was  to  be  a  depository  and  guar 
dian  of  the  truth ;  and  as,  by  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States,  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  General  Assem 
bly  to  testify  against  error,  therefore — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  testimony  of  the  memorialists  concerning  doctrine 
be  adopted  as  the  testimony  of  this  General  Assembly  (with  a  few  verbal 
alterations),  which  is  as  follows : 

"1.  That  God  would  have  prevented  the  existence  of  sin  in  our 
world,  but  was  not  able  without  destroying  the  moral  agency  of  man ; 
or  that,  for  aught  that  appears  in  the  Bible  to  the  contrary,  sin  is  inci 
dental  to  any  wise  moral  system. 

"  2.  That  election  to  eternal  life  is  founded  on  a  foresight  of  faith  and 
obedience. 

"3.  That  we  have  no  more  to  do  with  the  first  sin  of  Adam  than  with 
the  sins  of  any  other  parent. 

"4.  That  infants  come  into  the  world  as  free  from  moral  defilement 
as  was  Adam,  when  he  was  created. 

"5.  That  infants  sustain  the  same  relation  to  the  moral  government 
of  God  in  this  world  as  brute  animals,  and  that  their  sufferings  and 
death  are  to  be  accounted  for,  on  the  same  principles  as  those  of  brutes, 
and  not  by  any  means  to  be  considered  as  penal. 

"  6.  That  there  is  no  other  original  sin  than  the  fact  that  all  the  pos 
terity  of  Adam,  though  by  nature  innocent,  or  possessed  of  no  moral 
character,  will  always  begin  to  sin  when  they  begin  to  exercise  moral 
agency ;  that  original  sin  does  not  include  a  sinful  bias  of  the  human 
mind,  and  a  just  exposure  to  penal  suffering;  and  that  there  is  no  evi 
dence  in  Scripture,  that  infants,  in  order  to  salvation,  do  need  redemp 
tion  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"  7.  That  the  doctrine  of  imputation,  whether  of  the  guilt  of  Adam's 
sin,  or  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  has  no  foundation  in  the  word  of 
God,  and  is  both  unjust  and  absurd. 

"8.  That  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  were  not  truly  vicarious 
and  penal,  but  symbolical,  governmental,  and  instructive  only. 

"9.  That  the  impenitent  sinner  is,  by  nature,  and  independently  of 
the  renewing  influence  or  almighty  energy  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  full 
possession  of  all  the  ability  necessary  to  a  full  compliance  with  all  the 
commands  of  God. 


314  VIII. — DELIVERANCES    ON   DOCTRINE. 

"10.  That  Christ  does  not  intercede  for  the  elect  until  after  their 
regeneration. 

"11.  That  saving  faith  is  not  an  effect  of  the  special  operation  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  but  a  mere  rational  belief  of  the  truth,  or  assent  to  the  word 
of  God. 

"  12.  That  regeneration  is  the  act  of  the  sinner  himself,  arid  that  it 
consists  in  a  change  of  his  governing  purpose,  which  he  himself  must 
produce,  and  which  is  the  result,  not  of  any  direct  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  on  the  heart,  but  chiefly  of  a  persuasive  exhibition  of  the  truth, 
analogous  to  the  influence  which  one  man  exerts  over  the  mind  of  ano 
ther;  or  that  regeneration  is  not  an  instantaneous  act,  but  a  progressive 
work. 

"13.  That  God  has  done  all  that  lie  can  do  for  the  salvation  of  all 
men,  and  that  man  himself  must  do  the  rest. 

"14.  That  God  cannot  exert  such  influence  on  the  minds  of  men,  as 
shall  make  it  certain  that  they  will  choose  and  act  in  a  particular  manner 
without  impairing  their  moral  agency. 

"15.  That  the  righteousness  of  Christ  is  not  the  sole  ground  of  the 
sinner's  acceptance  with  God ;  and  that  in  no  sense  does  the  righteous 
ness  of  Christ  become  ours. 

"16.  That  the  reason  why  some  differ  from  others  in  regard  to  their 
reception  of  the  Gospel  is,  that  they  make  themselves  to  differ. 

"  Against  all  these  errors,  whenever  and  wherever,  and  by  whomsoever 
taught,  the  Assembly  would  solemnly  testify ;  and  would  warn  all  in 
connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  against  them.  They  would 
also  enjoin  it  upon  all  the  inferior  judicatories  to  adopt  all  suitable 
measures  to  keep  their  members  pure  from  opinions  so  dangerous. 
Especially  does  the  Assembly  earnestly  enjoin  on  all  the  Presbyteries  to 
guard  with  great  care  the  door  of  entrance  to  the  sacred  office.  Nor 
can  the  Assembly  regard  as  consistent  with  ministerial  ordination  vows, 
an  unwillingness  to  discipli»e  according  to  the  rules  of  the  word  of  God 
and  of  our  standards,  any  person  already  a  teacher,  who  may  give  cur 
rency  to  the  foregoing  errors.  Yeas,  109;  Nays,  6;  non  liquct,  11." — 
Minutes,  1837,  pp.  468,  470. 

10.  An  explication  of  Doctrines. 

[The  following  final  article  of  a  protest  on  the  general  action  of  the 
Assembly  in  reference  to  the  "Memorial,"  was  ordered  to  be  placed 
upon  the  minutes,  viz. :] 


VIII. DELIVERANCES    ON    DOCTRINE.  315 

"  We  protest  finally,  because,  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  we  feel  that  while  we  were  prevented  from  uniting  in  the  final  vote 
with  the  majority  in  their  testimony  against  error,  for  the  reasons  above 
stated,  we  owe  it  to  ourselves,  to  our  brethren,  to  the  Church,  and  to  the 
world,  to  declare  and  protest,  that  it  is  not  because  we  do,  directly  or 
indirectly,  hold  or  countenance  the  errors  stated.  We  are  willing  to 
bear  our  testimony  in  full  against  them,  and  now  do  so,  when,  without 
misapprehension  and  liability  to  have  our  vote  misconstrued,  we  avow 
our  real  sentiments,  and  contrast  them  with  the  errors  condemned, 
styling  them,  as  we  believe,  the  true  doctrine,  in  opposition  to  the 
erroneous  doctrine  condemned,  as  follows,  viz. : 

"First  Error.  'That  God  would  have  prevented  the  existence  of  sin 
in  our  world,  but  was  not  able,  without  destroying  the  moral  agency  of 
man;  or,  that  for  aught  that  appears  in  the  Bible  to  the  contrary,  sin  is 
incidental  to  any  wise  moral  system/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  God  permitted  the  introduction  of  sin,  not  because 
he  was  unable  to  prevent  it,  consistently  with  the  moral  freedom  of  his 
creatures,  but  for  wise  and  benevolent  reasons  which  he  has  not  revealed. 

"Second  Error.  'That  election  to  eternal  life  is  founded  on  a  fore 
sight  of  faith  and  obedience/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  Election  to  eternal  life  is  not  founded  on  a  foresight 
of  faith  and  obedience,  but  is  a  sovereign  act  of  God's  mercy,  whereby, 
according  to  the  council  of  his  own  will,  he  hath  chosen  some  to  salva 
tion;  'yet  so  as  thereby  neither  is  violence  offered  to  the  will  of  the 
creatures,  nor  is  the  liberty  or  contingency  of  second  causes  taken  away, 
but  rather  established ;'  nor  does  this  gracious  purpose  ever  take  effect 
independently  of  faith  and  a  holy  life. 

"  Third  Error.  '  That  we  have  no  more  to  do  with  the  first  sin  of 
Adam  than  with  the  sins  of  any  other  parent/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  By  a  divine  constitution,  Adam  was  so  the  head 
and  representative  of  the  race,  that,  as  «,  consequence  of  his  trans 
gression,  all  mankind  became  morally  corrupt,  and  liable  to  death, 
temporal  and  eternal. 

"Fourth  Error.  '  That  infants  come  into  the  world  as  free  from  moral 
defilement  as  was  Adam  when  he  was  created/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  Adam  was  created  in  the  image  of  God,  endowed 
with  knowledge,  righteousness,  and  true  holiness.  Infants  come  into 
the  world,  not  only  destitute  of  these,  but  with  a  nature  inclined  to  evil, 
and  only  evil. 


. 

/&• 


Y      ,<'       /.'•-  *<0 

^.£       AX*^^-'-  f •*-  f"    ^7  •t-fc*^^  - 

W«-     /?  2^/V' V"^-~- 


fr 

"Fifth  Error.  'That  infants  sustain  the  same  relation  to  the  moral 
government  of  God,  in  this  world,  as  brute  animals,  and  that  their 
sufferings  and  death  are  to  be  accounted  for  on  the  same  principles  as 
those  of  brutes,  and  not  by  any  means  to  be  considered  as  penal.' 
*•*  **  True  Doctrine.  Brute  animals  sustain  no  such  relation  to  the  moral 
government  of  God  as  does  the  human  family.  Infants  are  a  part  of  the 
human  family;  and  their  sufferings  and  death  are  to  be  accounted  for, 
n  the  ground  of  their  being  involved  in  the  general  moral  ruin  of  the 
race  induced  by  the  apostacy. 

"  Sixth  Error.  l  That  there  is  no  other  original  sin  than  the  fact,  that 
all  the  posterity  of  Adam,  though  by  nature  innocent,  will  always  begin 
to  sin  when  they  begin  to  exercise  moral  agency;  that  original  sin  does 
not  include  a  sinful  bias  of  the  human  mind,  and  a  just  exposure  to 
penal  suffering;  and  that  there  is  no  evidence  in  Scripture,  that  infants, 
in  order  to  salvation,  do  need  redemption  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  and 
regeneration  by  the  Holy  Ghost.' 

"  True  Doctrine.  Original  sin  is  a  natural  bias  to  evil,  resulting  from 
the  first  apostasy,  leading  invariably  and  certainly  to  actual  transgression. 
And  all  infants,  as  well  as  adults,  in  order  to  be  saved,  need  redemption 
by  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"Seventh  Error.  '  That  the  doctrine  of  imputation,  whether  of  the 
guilt  of  Adam's  sin,  or  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  has  no  foundation 
in  the  word  of  God,  and  is  both  unjust  and  absurd/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  The  sin  of  Adam  is  not  imputed  to  his  posterity  in 
the  sense  of  a  literal  transfer  of  personal  qualities,  acts,  and  demerit; 
but  by  reason  of  the  sin  of  Adam,  in  his  peculiar  relation,  the  race  are 
treated  as  if  they  had  sinned.  Nor  is  the  righteousness  of  Christ  im 
puted  to  his  people  in  the  sense  of  a  literal  transfer  of  personal  qualities, 
acts,  and  merit;  but  by  reason  of  his  righteousness,  in  his  peculiar  rela 
tion,  they  are  treated  as  if  they  were  righteous. 

"Eighth  Error.  'That  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  were  not 
truly  vicarious  and  penal,  but  symbolical,  governmental,  and  instructive 
only.' 

"  True  Doctrine.  The  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  were  not  sym 
bolical,  governmental,  and  instructive  only,  but  were  truly  vicarious, 
i.  e.,  a  substitute  for  the  punishment  due  to  transgressors.  And  while 
Christ  did  not  suffer  the  literal  penalty  of  the  law,  involving  remorse 
of  conscience  and  the  pains  of  hell,  he  did  offer  a  sacrifice  which  infinite 
wisdom  saw  to  be  a  full  equivalent.  And  by  virtue  of  this  atonement, 


VIII. — DELIVERANCES    ON    DOCTRINE.  317 

overtures  of  mercy  are  sincerely  made  to  the  race,  and  salvation  secured 
to  all  who  believe. 

"Ninth  Error.  'That  the  impenitent  sinner  is  by  nature,  and  inde 
pendently  of  the  renewing  influence  or  almighty  energy  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  in  full  possession  of  all  the  ability  necessary  to  a  full  compliance 
with  all  the  commands  of  God/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  While  sinners  have  all  the  faculties  necessary  to  a 
perfect  moral  agency  and  a  just  accountability,  such  is  their  love  of  sin 
and  opposition  to  God  and  his  law,  that,  independently  of  the  renewing 
influence  or  almighty  energy  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  never  will  comply 
with  the  commands  of  God. 

"  Tenth  Error.  i  That  Christ  does  not  intercede  for  the  elect  until 
after  their  regeneration.' 

"  True  Doctrine.  The  intercession  of  Christ  for  the  elect  is  previous 
as  well  as  subsequent  to  their  regeneration,  as  appears  from  the  follow 
ing  Scripture,  viz.  :  1 1  pray  not  for  the  world,  but  for  them  which  thou 
hast  given  me,  for  they  are  thine.  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but 
for  them  also  which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word/ 

"Eleventh  Error.  i  That  saving  faith  is  not  an  effect  of  the  operations 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  a  mere  rational  belief  of  the  truth  or  assent  to 
the  word  of  God/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  Saving  faith  is  an  intelligent  and  cordial  assent  to 
the  testimony  of  God  concerning  his  Son,  implying  reliance  on  Christ 
alone  for  pardon  and  eternal  life ;  and  in  all  cases  it  is  an  effect  of  the 
special  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"  Twelfth  Error.  l  That  regeneration  is  the  act  of  the  sinner  himself, 
and  that  it  consists  in  change  of  his  governing  purpose,  which  he  him 
self  must  produce,  and  which  is  the  result,  not  of  any  direct  influence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  heart,  but  chiefly  of  a  persuasive  exhibition 
of  the  truth,  analogous  to  the  influence  which  one  man  exerts  over  the 
mind  of  another;  or  that  regeneration  is  not  an  instantaneous  act,  but 
a  progressive  work/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  Regeneration  is  a  radical  change  of  heart,  produced 
by  the  special  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  '  determining  the  sinner  to 
that  which  is  good/  and  is  in  all  cases  instantaneous. 

"  Thirteenth  Error.  '  That  God  has  done  all  that  he  can  do  for  the 
salvation  of  all  men,  and  that  man  himself  must  do  the  rest/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  While  repentance  for  sin  and  faith  in  Christ  are 
indispensable  to  salvation,  all  who  are  saved  are  indebted  from  first  to 


318  VIII. — DELIVERANCES   ON    DOCTRINE. 

last  to  the  grace  and  Spirit  of  God.  And  the  reason  that  God  does  not 
save  all,  is  not  that  he  wants  the  power  to  do  it,  but  that  in  his  wisdom 
he  does  not  see  fit  to  exert  that  power  further  than  he  actually  does. 

"Fourteenth  Error.  '  That  God  cannot  exert  such  influence  on  the 
minds  of  men,  as  shall  make  it  certain  that  they  will  choose  and  act  in 
a  particular  manner,  without  impairing  their  moral  agency/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  While  the  liberty  of  the  will  is  not  impaired,  nor 
the  established  connection  betwixt  means  and  end  broken  by  any  action 
of  God  on  the  mind,  he  can  influence  it  according  to  his  pleasure,  and 
does  effectually  determine  it  to  good  in  all  cases  of  true  conversion. 

"Fifteenth  Error.  'That  the  righteousness  of  Christ  is  not  the  sole 
ground  of  the  sinner's  acceptance  with  God;  and  that  in  no  sense  does 
the  righteousness  of  Christ  become  ours/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  All  believers  are  justified,  not  on  the  ground  of 
personal  merit,  but  solely  on  the  ground  of  the  obedience  and  death,  or, 
in  other  words,  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  And  while  that  righteous 
ness  does  not  become  theirs,  in  the  sense  of  a  literal  transfer  of  personal 
qualities  and  merit ;  yet,  from  respect  to  it,  God  can  and  does  treat 
them  as  if  they  were  righteous. 

"Sixteenth  Error.  i  That  the  reason  why  some  differ  from  others  in 
regard  to  their  reception  of  the  Gospel  is,  that  they  make  themselves  to 
differ/ 

"  True  Doctrine.  While  all  such  as  reject  the  Gospel  of  Christ  do  it, 
not  by  coercion,  but  freely — and  all  who  embrace  it  do  it,  not  by  coercion, 
but  freely — the  reason  why  some  differ  from  others  is  that  God  has  made 
them  to  differ. 

"  GEORGE  DUFFIELD,  F.  W.  GRAVES, 

"E.  W.  GILBERT,  OBADIAH  WOODRUFF, 

"THOMAS  BROWN,  N.  C.  CLARK, 

"BLiss  BURNAP,  ROBERT  STUART, 

"N.  S.  S.  BEMAN,  NAHUM  GOULD, 

"  E.   CHEEVER,  ABSALOM  PETERS, 

"E.  SEYMOUR,  ALEXANDER  CAMPBELL." 

"GEORGE  PAINTER, 

—Minutes,  1837,  pp.  484-486. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ON    MODES    OF   EVANGELIZATION. 
SECTION  1. — ON  DOMESTIC  MISSIONS. 

I.  The  earliest  missionary  appointments  temporary. — 2.  Missionaries  appointed 
to  itinerate  for  some  months. — 3.  Ministers  sent  out  to  organize  churches,  ordain 
elders,  administer  the  ordinances,  and  instruct  the  people. — 4.  Candidates  sent 
out  on  missionary  duty. — 5.  Plan  of  missions  adopted  by  the  Assembly. — 6. 
Operation  of  the  plan. — 7.  Leave  granted  in  special  cases  to  the  Synods  to  pro 
secute  their  own  missionary  work. — 8.  The  work  resumed  by  the  Assembly. — 
9.  Collections  ordered.  They  may  not  be  prohibited  by  a  church  Session. — 10. 
The  Assembly  refuse  to  exempt  a  Presbytery  from  contributing  to  its  funds;  as, 
also,  to  appropriate  their  own  funds. — 11.  Instructions  of  the  missionaries. 
Form  of  commission. — 12.  Kind  of  men  required  as  missionaries,  and  their 
duties. — 13.  "Standing  Committee  on  Missions ;:'  its  duties. — 14.  Its  powers 
enlarged,  and  its  name  changed  to  "The  Board  of  Missions." — 15.  Recom 
mendations  to  raise  funds,  and  to  furnish  men. — 16.  Powers  of  the  Board  en 
larged  and  defined. — 17.  Proposal  to  unite  with  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society.  Any  change  in  the  Assembly's  mode  of  conducting  missions  inexpe 
dient. — 18.  The  Board  is  not  the  judge  of  the  orthodoxy  or  morality  of  a  mi 
nister. — 19.  Action  of  the  Assemblies, '1837,  1838,  1849,  with  regard  to  the 
American  Home  Missionary  Society. — 20.  A  "  Standing  Committee  on  Home 
Missions"  appointed. — 21.  History  of  the  subsequent  relation  to  and  intercourse 
with  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society.  Committee  of  Conference. 

1.    The  earliest  Missionary  Appointments,  temporary. 

"  A  representation  being  made  by  some  of  our  members  of  the  earnest 
desire  of  some  Protestant  dissenting  families  in  Virginia,  together  with 
a  comfortable  prospect  of  the  increase  of  our  interest  there,  the  Synod 
have  appointed  that  Mr.  Hugh  Conn,  Mr.  John  Orme,  and  Mr.  William 
Stewart,  do  each  of  them  severally  visit  said  people,  and  preach  four 


320  IX. — ON    MODES   OF    EVANGELIZATION. 

Sabbaths  to  them,  between  this  and  the  next  Synod/7 — Minutes,  1722, 
p.  74. 

"  Mr.  Hugh  Conn,  John  Orme,  and  William  Stewart,  fulfilled  their 
appointments  with  respect  to  Virginia." — Minutes,  1723,  p.  70. 

[The  same  year  the  same  appointments  were  again  made.  Vide 
Minutes,  passim.~\ 

2.  Itinerant  Missionaries  appointed,  temporary. 

"  Ordered,  That  Messrs.  McWhorter,  Kirkpatrick,  and  Latta,  take  a 
journey  to  Virginia  and  Carolina,  as  soon  as  they  can,  this  summer  or 
ensuing  fall,  and  spend  some  months  in  those  parts. 

"  The  Synod,  further  considering  the  destitute  condition  of  Hanover, 
and  the  uncertainty  of  their  being  supplied,  if  supplies  are  left  to  their 
own  discretion  respecting  the  time  of  their  going  to  Virginia,  do  order 
that  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  prepare  for  his  journey,  so  as  to  be  at  Hanover  the 
third  Sabbath  of  July,  at  the  furthest,  and  supply  there  for  some  time, 
according  to  the  order  of  that  Presbytery;  that  Mr.  McWhorter  be  at 
Hanover  the  first  of  September ;  that  Mr.  Latta  be  there  the  first  of 
November,  at  the  furthest;  and  that  the  Presbyteries  of  Philadelphia 
and  New  Brunswick  take  care  that  these  gentlemen  fulfil  this  appoint 
ment,  and  neither  prescribe  nor  allow  them  employment  in  our  bounds, 
so  as  to  disappoint  this  our  good  intention." — Minutes,  1759,  p.  293. 

[Appointments  of  this  kind  are  found  on  the  Minutes  of  almost  every 
year.] 

3.  Ministers  sent  to  organize  Churches,  ordain  Elders,  £c. 

"  The  Synod,  more  particularly  considering  the  state  of  many  congre 
gations  to  the  southward,  and  particularly  North  Carolina,  and  the  great 
importance  of  having  those  congregations  properly  organized,  appoint 
the  Rev.  Messrs.  Elihu  Spencer  and  Alexander  McWhorter  to  go  as 
our  missionaries  for  that  purpose ;  that  they  form  societies,  help  them 
in  adjusting  their  bounds,  ordain  elders,  administer  sealing  ordinances, 
instruct  the  people  in  discipline,  and  finally  direct  them  in  their  after- 
conduct  ;  particularly  in  what  manner  they  shall  proceed  to  obtain  the 
stated  ministry,  and  whatever  else  may  appear  useful  or  necessary  for 
those  churches,  and  the  future  settlement  of  the  Gospel  among  them. 
And  also,  that  they  assure  those  people  wherever  they  go;  that  this 


DOMESTIC   MISSIONS.  321 

Synod  has  their  interest  much  at  heart,  and  will  neglect  no  opportu 
nities  of  affonding  them  proper  candidates  and  supplies  to  the  utmost  of 
our  power. 

"  Ordered,  That  the  clerk  give  said  missionaries  an  attested  copy  of 
this  minute,  and  proper  testimonials,  signed  by  the  moderator  and  clerk. 

"And  that  these  brethren  may  not  suffer  by  so  long  and  expensive  a 
journey,  the  Synod  agree  to  defray  their  expenses,  and  make  them  a 
proper  acknowledgment  for  the  damages  they  may  sustain  in  their  do 
mestic  affairs ;  and  for  this  purpose  a  collection  is  ordered  through  our 
bounds,  and  each  Presbytery  required  to  see  it  be  duly  observed." — 
Minutes,  1764,  p.  340. 

[These  gentlemen  being  pastors,  Synod  made  arrangements  for  the 
supply  of  their  pulpits  in  their  absence.] 

4.    Candidates  sent  on  Missionary  Service. 

a.  "The  Synod  appoint  Messrs.  Enoch  Green  and  William  Tennent, 
Jr.,  to  go  as  soon  as  they  conveniently  can,  so  as  they  defer  it  no  longer 
than  next  October,  to  supply  six  months  under  the  direction  of  Hanover 
Presbytery."— Minutes,  1762,  p.  320. 

I).  "  The  Synod  find  that  many  of  their  candidates  do  not  attend  their 
meetings,  and  for  this  reason  many  of  their  appointments  are  not  ful 
filled.  They  judge  that  candidates  should  constantly  attend  their  re 
spective  Presbyteries,  and,  as  often  as  they  can  conveniently,  they  should 
attend  our  Synods. 

"They  therefore  recommend  it  to  all  our  Presbyteries  to  propose  one 
or  more  of  their  candidates,  as  persons  that  they  think  proper  to  be  sent 
to  preach  to  our  frontier  settlements ;  and  that  they  let  these  candidates 
know  that  they  intend  to  propose  them  as  such  to  the  Synod,  that  so  our 
Synodical  appointments  may  be  more  punctually  fulfilled,  and  that  no 
candidate,  without  very  weighty  reasons,  presume  to  break  our  appoint 
ments." — Minutes,  1763,  p.  325. 

[Such  appointments  occur  thenceforward  with  great  frequency.] 

[On  the  formation  of  the  General  Assembly,  the  subject  of  missions 
became  one  of  the  first  subjects  of  action.] 

5.  Plan  of  Missions  adopted. 

"  The  Committee  of  Bills  and  Overtures  overture,  that  the  state  of 
the  frontier  settlements  should  be  taken  into  consideration,  and  mission- 

21 


322  ix. — ON  MODES  or  EVANGELIZATION. 

arics  sent  to  them,  to  form  them  into  congregations,  ordain  elders,  admi 
nister  the  sacraments,  and  direct  them  to  the  best  measures,. for  obtaining 
the  Gospel  ministry  regularly  among  them/' 

"  The  committee  [Drs.  Allison  and  S.  S.  Smith]  appointed  to  devise 
measures  to  carry  the  mission  to  the  frontiers  into  execution,  made  the 
following  report,  which  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"Resolved,  That  each  of  the  Synods  be,  and  are  hereby  requested  to 
recommend  to  the  Greneral  Assembly,  at  their  next  meeting,  two  mem 
bers,  well  qualified,  to  be  employed  in  missions  on  our  frontiers,  for  the 
purpose  of  organizing  churches,  administering  ordinances,  ordaining 
elders,  collecting  information  concerning  the  religious  state  of  those 
parts,  and  proposing  the  best  means  of  establishing  a  Gospel  ministry 
among  the  people. 

"  And  in  order  to  provide  means  for  defraying  the  necessary  expenses 
of  the  mission,  it  is  strictly  enjoined  on  the  several  Presbyteries,  to  have 
collections  made  during  the  present  year,  in  the  several  congregations 
under  our  care,  and  forwarded  to  Isaac  Snowden,  Esq.,  the  Treasurer  of 
the  General  Assembly,  with  all  convenient  speed/' — Minutes,  1789, 
p.  10. 

6.   Operation  of  the  Plan. 

a.  "Dr.  Rodgers,  Dr.  Allison,  Mr.  Ker,  Mr.  Haima,  and  Mr.  Cham 
bers  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  certain  directions  necessary 
for  the  missionaries  of  the  Assembly,  in  fulfilling  the  design  of  their 
mission,  and  to  specify  the  compensation  that  it  will  be  proper  to  make 
them  for  their  services,  and  to  make  report  to-morrow  morning."  — 
Minutes,  1790,  p.  23. 

l>.  "The  Committee  of  Missions  brought  in  their  report,  which  was 
read  and  approved,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  The  llev.  Messrs.  Nathan  Ker  and  Joshua  Hart  were  appointed 
missionaries  on  the  frontier  settlements  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania, 
to  the  west  branch  of  the  Susquehanna,  for  at  least  three  months,  from 
an  early  day  in  June,  to  preach  the  Gospel,  administer  other  ordinances, 
organize  churches,  ordain  elders,  collect  every  useful  information  they 
can  about  the  religious  state  of  those  parts,  and  lay  before  the  Assembly 
the  result  of  their  inquiries  respecting  the  most  effectual  means  of  esta 
blishing  the  Gospel  ministry  among  the  people ;  together  with  the 
probable  proportion  of  the  different  denominations,  and  the  number  of 
our  vacancies, — carefully  distinguishing  those  who  are  able  and  willing 


DOMESTIC    MISSIONS.  323 

to  support  a  minister  from  such  as  arc  of  a  different  description.     It 
was  at  the  same  time 

"  Ordered,  That  the  Treasurer  advance  to  the  missionaries  fifty  dollars 
each  ;  and  agreed  that  they  shall  receive  for  their  services  one  hundred 
dollars  each,  including  what  may  be  received  by  them  on  their  tour,  and 
the  sum  advanced  before  their  departure,  and  of  this  they  are  to  render 
an  account  at  their  return."  —  Minutes,  1790,  p.  26. 


7.  Leave  granted  the  Synods  in  special  Cases,  to  prosecute  thei 


own 


Missionary  work. 


a.  [Leave  was  granted  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas  "to  manage  the 
matter  of  sending  missionaries  to  places  destitute  of  the  Gospel"  within 
their  bounds,  —  they  reporting  annually  to  the  Assembly,  an  account  of 
their  proceedings,  moneys  raised,  &c.]  —  Minutes,  1791,  p.  38;  1792, 
p.  59.] 

"Resolved,  That  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas  be  authorized  and  re 
quested  to  continue  and  conduct,  with  their  wonted  zeal  and  diligence, 
the  missionary  business  on  their  frontiers  and  elsewhere  at  discretion, 
and  report  to  next  Assembly."  —  Minutes,  1803,  p.  265. 

I.  [The  Synod  of  Virginia  also  had  liberty  to  conduct  their  own 
missions.  Minutes,  1791,  p.  44,  45;  1793,  p.  67,  &c.  This  right  they 
proposed  to  resign  (Minutes,  1807,  p.  377);  but  the  Assembly  de 
clined.  Minutes,  1807,  p.  380.] 

8.    The  work  resumed  by  the  Assembly. 

"An  overture  was  received  from  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas,  re 
questing  the  General  Assembly  to  take  upon  them  the  direction  of  the 
missionary  business  within  their  bounds.  This  overture  being  read,  it 
was 

"Resolved,  That  the  request  of  the  Synod  be  granted."  —  Minutes, 
1812,  p.  508. 

9.  Collections  ordered.    They  may  not  be  prohibited  by  a  Church  Session. 

a.  "  Ordered,  That  every  minister,  according  to  our  former  agree 
ment,  propose  the  collection  for  the  fund  to  his  congregation,  and  as  it 
is  a  synodical  appointment,  it  is  inconsistent  with  our  Church  govern- 


324  IX. — ON    MODES    OF    EVANGELIZATION. 

ment  to  be  under  the  check  or  prohibition  of  a  church  session  •  they 
indeed  may  give  or  withhold  their  charity,  but  may  not  prevent  a 
minister  to  propose  it  publicly,  according  to  our  appointment.  Ordered, 
likewise,  That  every  Presbytery  take  care  of  the  conduct  of  their 
members,  how  they  observe  this  agreement  previous  to  their  coming  to 
the  Synod,  and  that  they  gather  the  collection  from  absent  members/' — 
Minutes,  1755,  p.  215. 

b.  "  Whereas,  it  appears  that  some  of  the  congregations  under  the 
care  of  this  Assembly,  though  duly  informed  of  the  injunction  made  at 
our  last  sessions  respecting  the  raising  of  contributions  for  the  support 
of  missionaries  to  the  frontiers  of  the  country,  have  not  complied  with 
the  same,  the  Assembly,  therefore,  thought  proper  to  continue  the 
above-mentioned  order,  and  do  hereby  enjoin  it  on  all  the  Presbyteries 
to  give  particular  attention  that  every  congregation  raise  the  specified 
contribution ;  and  that  all  the  contributions  be  sent  forward,  as  soon  as 
possible,  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  General  Assembly." — Minutes,  1790, 
p.  24. 

10.    The  Assembly  refuse  to  exempt  a  Presbytery  from  Contributing  to 
its  Funds,  as  also  leave  to  Appropriate  their  own  Funds. 

a.  "  The  Assembly  took  into  consideration  that  part  of  the  communi 
cation  from  the   Presbytery  of  Oneida,   wherein   they  pray  that  the 
churches  under  the  care  of  that  Presbytery  may  be   exempted  from 
pecuniary  contributions  to  the  funds  of  the  Assembly.     On  motion,  it 
was 

"Resolved,  That  the  request  be  not  granted."— Minutes,  1803,  p.  279. 

b.  "The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  request  of  the  Presby 
tery  of  Oneida,  that  they  be  permitted  to  appropriate  their  own  funds 
collected  for  missionary  purposes,  submitted   the  following  resolution, 
which  was  adopted : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Presbytery  of  Oneida  be  again  referred  to  the 
plan  proposed  by  the  Board  of  Missions,  and  approved  by  this  Assembly, 
with  instructions  to  conform  to  the  same  on  the  subject  of  their  re 
quest." — Minutes,  1820,  p.  733. 

11.  Instructions  of  the  Missionaries  ;  Form  of  Commission. 

"  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  now  sitting  at  Carlisle,  reposing  confidence  in  your 


DOMESTIC    MISSIONS.  325 

piety,  prudence,  and  abilities  for  the  important  business,  do  hereby 
appoint  you  one  of  their  missionaries. 

"  In  discharge  of  the  trust  committed  to  you,  much  must  be  left  to 
your  discretion.  But  the  General  Assembly,  viewing  with  concern  the 
state  of  our  frontiers  and  other  settlements,  destitute  of  the  regular 
administration  of  the  worship  and  ordinances  of  God,  and  desirous  to 
do  all  in  their  power  to  extend  the  blessings  to  be  derived  from  the 
means  of  grace,  confidently  expect  that  you  will  faithfully  preach  the 
Gospel,  administer  its  ordinances,  organize  churches,  and  ordain  elders ; 
doing  all  these  things  according  to  the  word  of  God,  and  the  standards 
of  our  Church,  contained  in  our  Confession  of  Faith,  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms,  the  Government  and  Discipline,  and  Directory  for  the 
Worship  of  God :  commending  you  to  the  grace  and  protection  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  wish  abundant  success  to  your  mission. 

"  Of  your  diligence  wherein,  of  the  state  of  religion,  and  of  society,  of 
the  most  probable  means  of  establishing  the  Gospel  in  these  parts,  with 
every  useful  and  necessary  information,  you  will  give  an  account  to  the 
next  General  Assembly. 


Attested,    -  (•  Clerks  of  Assembly. 

(.-"      ~~  3 

Signed,  Moderator. 

—Minutes,  1795,  p.  103. 

12.  Kind  of  Men  required  as  Missionaries)  and  their  Duties. 

"  The  Committee  on  Missions  beg  leave  to  report,  that  they  ought  to 
be  conducted  by  men  of  ability,  piety,  zeal,  prudence,  and  popular  talents. 
That  missionaries  should  preach  the  most  important  doctrines  of  grace 
during  the  short  period  which  they  can  afford  to  stay  in  a  particular 
place.  That  they  organize  churches  where  opportunity  offers,  and 
administer  ordinances.  And  that  they  catechize  and  instruct  from  house 
to  house,  as  far  as  practicable,  when  they  remain  for  any  length  of  time 
in  a  settlement.  That  they  refrain  from  all  political  and  party  discus 
sions  of  any  kind,  and,  with  the  self-denial  of  their  Master,  be  wholly 
devoted  to  their  ministry,  and  exemplary  in  their  lives  and  conversation. 
That,  in  keeping  their  journals,  they  distinctly  record  the  subjects  on 
which  they  preach,  and  the  apparent  effect  on  their  hearers." — Minutes, 
1798,  p.  150.  [See  also  Minutes,  1799,  pp.  183,  184.] 


326  ix. — ON  MODES  or  EVANGELIZATION. 

13.   Standing  Committee  of  Missions  appointed •;  its  Duties. 

"1.  Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  chosen  annually  by  the  General 
Assembly,  to  be  denominated  The  Standing  Committee  of  Missions. 
That  the  committee  shall  consist  of  seven  members,  of  whom  four  shall 
be  clergymen  and  three  laymen ;  that  a  majority  of  this  committee  shall 
be  a  quorum  to  do  business;  that  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  committee 
to  collect,  during  the  recess  of  the  Assembly,  all  the  information  in  their 
power  relative  to  the  concerns  of  missions  and  missionaries  ;  to  digest 
this  information,  and  report  thereon  at  each  meeting  of  the  Assembly; 
to  designate  the  places  where,  and  to  specify  the  periods  during  which, 
the  missionaries  should  be  employed ;  to  correspond  with  them  if  neces 
sary,  and  with  oil  other  persons  on  missionary  business ;  to  nominate 
missionaries  to  the  Assembly,  and  report  the  number  which  the  funds 
will  permit  to  be  employed ;  to  hear  the  reports  of  the  missionaries,  and 
make  a  statement  thereon  to  the  Assembly,  relative  to  the  diligence, 
fidelity,  and  success  of  the  missionaries,  the  sums  due  to  each,  and  such 
parts  of  their  reports  as  it  may  be  proper  for  the  Assembly  to  hear  in 
detail;  to  ascertain  annually  whether  any  money  remains  with  the 
trustees  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  which  ought  to  be  used  fur  mis 
sionary  purposes,  agreeably  to  the  last  will  of  James  Leslie,  deceased ; 
that  they  also  engage  a  suitable  person  annually  to  preach  a  missionary 
sermon,  on  the  Monday  evening  next  after  the  opening  of  the  General 
Assembly,  at  which  a  collection  shall  be  made  for  the  support  of  mis 
sions  ;  and  superintend  generally,  under  the  direction  of  the  Assembly, 
the  missionary  business. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  although  this  standing  committee  shall  be  elected 
annually,  yet  each  committee  shall  continue  in  office  till  the  end  of  the 
sessions  of  that  Assembly  which  succeeds  the  one  by  which  the  said 
committee  was  chosen. 

"  3.  Resolved,  That  this  Standing  Committee  of  Missions,  in  addition 
to  the  duties  above  specified,  shall  be,  and  they  hereby  are,  empowered 
to  direct  the  trustees  of  the  General  Assembly,  during  the  recess  of  the 
Assembly,  to  issue  warrants  for  any  sums  of  money  which  may  become 
due,  in  consequence  of  contracts,  appropriations,  or  assignments  of  duty 
made  by  the  Assembly,  and  for  which  orders  may  not  have  been  issued 
by  the  Assembly;  and  on  this  subject  the  committee  shall  report 
annually  to  the  Assembly."— Minutes,  1802,  pp.  257,  258. 

"4.  Rewlved,  That  it  be  again  solemnly  enjoined  on  all   the   Pres- 


DOMESTIC   MISSIONS.  327 

byteries  and  Synods  within  the  bounds  of  the  General  Assembly  on  no 
account  to  interfere  with  the  instructions  given  by  the   Committee  of 

Missions  to  missionaries/' — Minutes,  1809,  p.  427. 

i 

14.    Standing  Committee  enlarged  in  its  Powers,  and  its  style  changed 
to  "The  Board  of  Missions." 

u  The  committee  appointed  to  consider  whether  the  missionary  busi 
ness  cannot  be  carried  on  with  more  efficacy,  and  to  greater  extent, 
reported ;  and  their  report,  being  amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  fol 
lows,  viz.  : 

^  *  *  *  #  ^K  *  X< 

"  For  the  purpose  of  enlarging  the  sphere  of  our  missionary  operations, 
then,  and  infusing  new  vigor  into  the  cause,  your  committee  would 
respectfully  recommend  a  change  of  the  style,  and  enlargement  of  the 
powers,  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  Missions.  If,  instead  of  con 
tinuing  to  this  body  the  character  of  a  committee,  bound,  in  all  cases,  to 
act  according  to  the  instructions  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  under 
the  necessity  of  receiving  its  sanction  to  give  validity  to  all  the  measures 
which  it  may  propose,  the  Committee  of  Missions  were  erected  into  a 
board,  with  full  powers  to  transact  all  the  business  of  the  missionary 
cause,  only  requiring  the  board  to  report  annually  to  the  General  Assem 
bly,  it  would  then  be  able  to  carry  on  the  missionary  business  with  all 
the  vigor  and  unity  of  design  that  would  be  found  in  a  society  originated 
for  that  purpose,  and,  at  the  same  time,  would  enjoy  all  the  benefit  that 
the  counsel  and  advice  of  the  General  Assembly  could  afford.  With 
these  views  of  the  subject,  it  is  respectfully  recommended — 

"  1.  That  the  style  of  the  committee  be  changed  for  that  of  The 
Board  of  Missions,  acting  under  the  authority  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States. 

"  2.  That  the  Board  of  Missions  be  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  the 
Rev.  John  B.  Romeyn,  D.D.,  Samuel  Miller,  D.D.,  and  Messrs.  Samuel 
Bayard,  Robert  Ralston,  Robert  Lenox,  John  R.  B.  Rodgers,  John  E. 
Caldwcll,  Divie  Bethune,  and  Zechariah  Lewis. 

"  3.  That  in  addition  to  the  powers  already  granted  to  the  Committee 
of  Missions,  the  Board  of  Missions  be  authorized  to  appoint  missiona 
ries  whenever  they  may  deem  it  proper;  to  make  such  advances  to 
missionaries  as  maybe  judged  necessary;  and  to  pay  balances  due  to 


328  IX. — ON    MODES   OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

missionaries  who  have  fulfilled  their  missions,  whenever,  in  their  judg 
ment,  the  particular  circumstances  of  the  missionaries  may  require  it. 

"4.  That  the  Board  be  authorized  and  directed  to  take  measures  for 
establishing  throughout  our  churches  auxiliary  missionary  societies;  and 
that  the  General  Assembly  recommend  to  their  people  the  establishment 
of  such  societies,  to  aid  the  funds  and  extend  the  operations  of  the 
Board. 

"  5.  That  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Missions  be  annually  chosen 
by  the  Assembly,  and  that  they  continue  in  office  until  the  rising  of  the 
next  General  Assembly,  when  they  are  to  be  succeeded  by  the  persons 
chosen  for  the  current  year." — Minutes,  1816,  p.  633. 

15.  Recommendation  to  raise  Funds,  and  to  supply  Waste  Places  in 
the  New  States  in  advance. 

a.  "1.  Resolved,  That  the  report  of  the  Board  of  Missions  be  ac 
cepted  and  approved. 

"2.  Resolved,  That  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  all  the  congrega 
tions  under  the  care  of  the  Assembly  to  send  annual  and  liberal  contri 
butions  to  aid  the  Board  in  their  future  operations ;  but  this  recommen 
dation  shall  not  involve  in  censure  any  congregation  belonging  to  the 
Synods  to  whom  the  General  Assembly  has  given  permission  to  manage 
their  own  missionary  concerns,  who  shall  think  themselves  unable  to 
contribute  to  the  funds  of  the  Board  of  Missions. 

"3.  Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  highly  approve  the  sentiments  ex 
pressed  by  the  Board,  with  respect  to  the  new  States  in  the  western  and 
southern  parts  of  our  country,  and  to  the  importance  of  supplying  them 
with  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  that  their  character,  which  is  now 
forming,  may  be  formed  under  the  influence  of  religion." — Minutes, 
1823,  p.  76. 

b.  "Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended,  and  it  is  hereby  earnestly  re 
commended  to  all  the  churches  under  our  care,  to  take  up  and  forward 
one  annual  missionary  collection  for  this  purpose,  and  that  Presbyteries 
take  order  on  the  subject." — Minutes,  1827,  p.  216. 

16.  Enlargement  of  Powers. 

a.  "Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Missions,  in  addition  to  the  powers 
already  granted  to  them,  be  authorized  to  manage,  appoint,  and  direct 


DOMESTIC    MISSIONS.  329 

the  whole  concerns  and  business  of  the  Assembly's  missions  definitively, 
and  report  annually  their  doings  to  the  Assembly. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Board  be  authorized  to  appoint,  if  they  think 
proper,  an  executive  committee  of  their  own  number,  to  carry  into  effect 
the  details  of  their  plan ;  and  that  they  also  be  authorized  to  appoint 
and  employ  an  agent  or  agents  at  their  discretion/' — Minutes,  1827, 
p.  217. 

[In  1828,  an  overture  was  brought  in  for  the  reorganization  of  the 
Board.]  "  The  committee  reported  as  follows,  viz. :  The  committee 
consider  the  matter  contained  in  this  overture  of  the  first  importance  to 
the  interests  of  the  Church  and  the  world,  and  they  believe  that  they 
cannot  better  discharge  the  duties  intrusted  to  them,  than  to  lay  the 
overture,  as  it  now  stands,  before  the  General  Assembly  for  their  con 
sideration." — Minutes,  p.  234. 

[While  the  subject  was  under  discussion]  "a  communication  was  re 
ceived  from  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  American  Home  Mission 
ary  Society,  announcing  the  appointment  of  Rev.  James  M.  Matthews, 
D.I).,  Rev.  Absalom  Peters,  and  Knowles  Taylor,  Esq.,  a  committee  of 
that  body  to  communicate  to  the  Assembly  the  views  of  said  Executive 
Committee  in  relation  to  the  subject  of  the  overture,  now  before  the 
Assembly,  for  a  reorganization  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General 
Assembly. 

"Dr.  Herron,  Mr.  Hardin,  and  Mr.  Holmes  were  appointed  a  com 
mittee  to  confer  with  the  committee  from  the  American  Home  Mission 
ary  Society;  and  it  was  resolved  to  suspend  the  business  of  reorganizing 
the  Board  of  Missions  until  said  committee  shall  report." — Minutes, 
1828,  p.  236. 

[The  subject  was  discussed  at  great  length,  and  then  "  indefinitely 
postponed."  Against  this  result  a  protest  was  offered,  and  a  committee 
of  conference  appointed.] 

I.  "  The  Committee  of  Conference  reported,  that,  after  mature  delibe 
ration,  they  recommend  the  following  resolutions,  which  were  adopted, 
viz. : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Missions  already  have  the  power  to 
establish  missions,  not  only  among  the  destitute  in  our  own  country,  or 
any  other  country,  but  also  among  the  heathen  in  any  part  of  the  world; 
to  select,  appoint,  and  commission  missionaries,  to  determine  their  sala 
ries,  and  to  settle  and  pay  their  accounts;  that  they  have  full  authority 
to  correspond  with  any  other  body  on  the  subject  of  missions;  to  ap- 


330  IX. — ON    MODES    OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

point  an  executive  committee,  and  an  efficient  agent  or  agents  to  manage 
their  missionary  concerns;  to  take  measures  to  form  auxiliary  societies, 
on  such  terms  as  they  may  deem  proper;  to  procure  funds;  and,  in 
general,  to  manage  the  missionary  operations  of  the  General  Assembly. 

"  It  is  therefore  submitted  to  the  discretion  of  the  Board  of  Missions, 
to  consider  \vhether  it  is  expedient  for  them  to  carry  into  effect  the  full 
powers  which  they  possess. 

"  Resolved,  That  an  addition  of  seven  laymen  be  made  to  the  present 
number  of  the  Board  of  Missions."— Minutes,  1828,  p.  244. 

17.  Proposal  to  unite  with  tlie  American  Home  Missionary  Society. 

a.  "  Agreeably  to  the  order  of  the  day,  the  Assembly  took  up  Over 
ture  No.  10,  viz.,  a  request  of  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati,  that  the 
General  Assembly  would  unite  with  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society  in  the  appointment  of  one  Board  of  Agency,  to  manage  the  mis 
sionary  concerns  of  both  Boards  in  the  Western  country.     After  some 
discussion,  this  subject  was  committed  to  Dr.  Green,  Dr.  McAuley,  Mr. 
Russell,  Mr.  Slack,  and  Mr.  Beckwith,  to  confer  with  delegates,  which 
the  Assembly  are  informed  have  been  appointed  by  the  Home  Mission 
ary  Society,  on  the  request  of  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati,  and  report 
to  the  Assembly  as  soon  as  practicable." — Minutes,  1830,  pp.  298,  299. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  committed  Overture  No.  10,  reported 
the  following  resolution,  viz.  : 

"  Resolved ,  That  it  is  expedient  for  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Assembly  and  the  Board  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society  to 
conduct  their  missionary  operations  in  the  West  through  a  common 
Board  of  Agency  in  that  part  of  the  country. 

"  This  report  was  accepted,  and  the  committee  discharged. 

11  A  motion  was  then  made  to  dismiss  the  whole  subject;  and,  after 
considerable  discussion,  this  motion  was  carried  in  the  affirmative,  and 
the  subject  was  accordingly  dismissed." — Minutes,  1830,  p.  301. 

b.  [The  same  subject  came  up  next  year.     The  Assembly  having  re 
fused  by  yeas  and  nays,  87  to  109,  to  reappoint  the  committee,  a  com 
promise  committee  was  appointed,  who  reported  as  follows  :] 

"  1.  In  view  of  existing  evils,  resulting  from  the  separate  action  of 
the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society,  the  General  Assembly  recommend  to  the 
Sjmods  of  Ohio;  Cincinnati,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  West  Tennessee,  In- 


DOMESTIC    MISSIONS.  331 

diana,  and  Illinois,  and  the  Presbyteries  connected  with  the  same,  to 
correspond  with  each  other,  and  endeavor  to  agree  upon  some  plan  of 
conducting  domestic  missions  in  the  "Western  States,  and  report  the 
result  of  their  correspondence  to  the  next  General  Assembly :  it  being 
understood  that  the  brethren  of  the  West  be  left  to  their  freedom  to 
form  any  organization  which  in  their  judgment  may  best  promote  the 
cause  of  missions  in  these  States,  and  also,  that  all  the  Synods  and  Pres 
byteries  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  may  be  embraced  in  this  corre 
spondence,  provided  they  desire  it. 

"  Resolved  ly  this  Assembly,  That  the  present  Board  of  Missions  be 
reappointed." — Minutes,  1831,  p.  337. 

Change  Inexpedient. 

c.  "The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  Overture  No.  1,  viz.,  sun 
dry  documents  on  the  subject  of  missions,  made  the  following  report, 
which  was  unanimously  adopted,  viz.  : 

"Resolved,  That,  under  existing  circumstances,  it  is  deemed  inexpe 
dient  to  propose  any  change  in  the  Assembly's  mode  of  conducting  mis 
sions/7—  Mlnu tes,  1832,  p.  364. 

18.  The  Board  has  no  Power  to  Judge  of  the  Orthodoxy,  or  Morality 
of  a  Minister  ivho  is  in  Good  Standing  in  his  own  Presbytery. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  recommitted  the  report  on  Overture 
No.  9,  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"  In  answer  to  the  questions  propounded  by  the  Presbyteries  of  Union 
and  French  Broad,  the  Assembly  would  say,  that  though  they  do  not 
recognize  in  the  Board  of  Missions  the  authority  to  sit  in  judgment  upon 
the  orthodoxy  or  morality  of  any  minister  who  is  in  good  standing  in  his 
own  Presbytery,  yet,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  they  must  exercise 
their  own  sound  discretion  upon  the  expediency  or  inexpediency  of 
appointing  or  withholding  an  appointment  from  any  applicant,  holding 
themselves  amenable  to  the  General  Assembly  for  all  their  official  acts." 
—Minutes,  1830,  p.  290. 

19.  The  American  Home  Missionary  Society.    Action  of  the  Assemblies 

of  1837,  1838-1849. 

a.  [In  1837,  the  Assembly  adopted  a  resolution,  124  to  86,  declaring 


332  IX. — ON    MODES   OF    EVANGELIZATION. 

the  operations  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  to  be  "  ex 
ceedingly  injurious  to  the  peace  and  purity  of  the  Presbyterian  Church/' 
and  "recommend  accordingly  that  they  should  cease  to  operate  within 
any  of  our  churches/' — Minutes,  1837,  p.  442. 

b.  The  Assembly  of  1838  rescinded  the  above  resolution,  and  adopted 
the  following,  viz.  :] 

(<  Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  recognize,  with  devout  grati 
tude  to  God,  the  eminent  usefulness  of  those  societies  [the  American 
Home  Missionary  and  Education]  to  the  Church  and  the  world,  and 
cordially  commend  them  to  the  continued  confidence  and  increasing 
patronage  of  our  churches/' — Minutes,  1838,  p.  649. 

c.  [The  "  Board  of  Missions,"  remaining  under  the   control  of  the 
"  Old  School"  party,  refused  to  report  to  the  Assembly.    Minutes,  1838, 
p.  655.     Next  year  the  following  resolution  was  adopted,  viz.  :] 

"Resolved,  That  we  recommend  to  all  our  churches  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  of  Foreign  Missions,  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society,  and  the  American  Education  Society,  as  the  most 
suitable  channels,  under  present  circumstances,  through  which  they  can 
dispense  their  charities  in  aiding  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  heathen,  and  in  our  own  country,  and  for  training  up  young  men 
for  the  Gospel  ministry;  without,  however,  wishing  to  restrict  the 
liberty  of  individuals  to  use  their  own  discretion  in  this  matter." — 
Minutes,  1839,  p.  24. 

d.  [In  1840,  the  Assembly  renewed  their  recommendations  of  these 
and  several  other  voluntary  societies]  "  as  every  way  worthy  of  patronage 
and  support ;  and  as  affording  safe,  convenient,  and,  perhaps,  the  best 
channels  through  which  their  contributions  may  reach  the  objects  con 
templated  by  those  societies  respectively." — Minutes,  1840,  p.  21. 

20.  A  "  Standing  Committee  on  Home  Missions"  appointed. 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  five,  from  the  Western  Synods,  be 
appointed  to  consult  and  correspond  on  this  and  the  other  subjects 
embraced  in  this  paper;  and  to  present  a  detailed  report  to  the  next 
General  Assembly  embodying  the  different  plans  tried  by  the  Presby 
teries  which  have  proved  most  successful,  and  presenting  such  recom 
mendations  and  suggestions  as  the  whole  subject  may  seem  to  require. 
[See  Appendix,  Minutes,  1847,  p.  152.] 

"The   Rev.   Messrs.   Thornton   A.   Mills,   A.   T.  Norton,  John  M. 


DOMESTIC   MISSIONS.  333 

Dickey,  Henry  Little,  C.  P.  Wing,  and  T.  Cleland,  D.D.,  were  appointed 
a  '  Standing  Committee  on  Home  Missions,'  under  the  foregoing  resolu 
tion." — Minutes,  1847,  p.  143. 

[This  committee  reported  a  series  of  resolutions,  which,  after  much 
discussion,  were  adopted.  See  Minutes,  1849,  p.  178.] 

21.  History  of ,  subsequent  relation  to,  and  Intercourse  with  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society. 

[See  also  chap,  x,  sec.  1,  on  Church  Extension.] 

a.  "A  committee,  consisting  of  five,  viz.,  Rev.  George  Duffield,  D.D., 
N.  S.  S.  Beman,  D.D.,  Rev.  Thornton  A.  Mills,  Robert  W.  Patterson, 
and  Hon.  John  L.  Mason,  is  hereby  appointed  to  confer  with  the  Exe 
cutive  Committee  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  expressing 
to  it  the  kind  feelings  and  confidence  of  the  General  Assembly  and  the 
churches  it  represents,  and  requesting  its  co-operation  in  this  plan 
(church  extension),  as  far  as  its  principles  will  admit;  and  also  requesting 
a  statement  of  the  principles  on  which  its  appropriations  are  made  to 
the  churches  of  the  several  denominations  of  Christians  who  support  it : 
the  results  of  which  conference  shall  be  reported  to  the  next  General 
Assembly."— Minutes,  1852,  p.  173. 

L.  [The  committee  reported.  See  chap,  x,  sec.  1.  Minutes,  1853,  p. 
340  j  also,  Minutes,  1854,  p.  514.  In  1857,  a  committee  of  nine  (Drs. 
George  L.  Prentiss,  J.  F.  Stearns,  Thos.  Brainerd,  Win.  C.  Wisner,  D. 
Howe  Allen,  Rev.  H.  Curtis,  Timothy  Hill,  and  Messrs.  Samuel  H. 
Perkins,  and  Cyrus  P.  Smith)  were  appointed  "  to  confer  with  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  in 
reference  to  our  relations  with  that  society."  Minutes,  p.  409.  The 
next  year,  1858,  the  committee  reported ;  their  report,  with  other  docu 
ments,  were  referred  to  a  special  committee,  who  report  as  follows  :] 

"The  special  committee  on  the  documents  relating  to  the  Committee 
of  Conference  with  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  recommend 
the  adoption  of  the  following  resolutions  : 

"  1.  That  the  Committee  of  Conference  with  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society  be  continued,  and  consist  of  the  following  members  : 
Rev.  Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  D.D.,  Rev.  Thomas  Brainerd,  D.D.,  Rev. 
William  C.  Wisner,  D.D.,  Rev.  D.  Howe  Allen,  D.D.,  Rev.  Harvey 
Curtis,  D.D.,  Rev.  A.  Augustus  Wood,  D.D.  (in  the  place  of  Rev. 
George  L.  Prentiss,  D.D.,  resigned),  Rev.  Thompson  Bird,  Mr.  Cyrus 


334  IX. — ON    MODES    OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

P.  Smith,  and  Mr.  Norman  White,  and  that  four  of  their  number  con 
stitute  a  quorum. 

"  2.  That  this  committee  report  to  the  next  General  Assembly  upon 
our  general  relations  with  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society ;  upon 
its  appointment  of  agents  and  missionaries;  upon  the  number  of  our 
churches  and  ministers  aided  by  it ;  upon  the  amount  contributed  by  our 
churches  to  its  funds;  and  upon  any  other  points  of  interest  connected 
with  our  home  missionary  work;  that  we  may  come  to  a  more  full  com 
prehension  of  our  duties,  and  be  aroused  to  greater  zeal  and  liberality. 

"3.  That  this  committee,  as  far  as  is  practicable,  procure  from  our 
Presbyteries  information  as  to  home  evangelization ;  and  that  our  Pres 
byteries  give  diligent  heed  to  this  work,  as  far  as  is  practicable,  raising- 
money  to  be  expended  within  their  own  bounds,  and  seeing  to  it  that 
annual  collections  for  home  missions  be  made  in  all  their  churches." — 
Minutes,  1858,  p.  604. 

[The  report  of  the  committee  of  1858,  with  other  papers,  were  referred 
to  the  Standing  Committee  on  Church  Extension,  who  reported  as  follows :] 

c.  "The  Committee  on  Church  Extension  beg  leave  to  report  on  the 
papers  referred  to  them  relating  to  church  extension. 

"  The  annual  report  of  the  permanent  committee  impresses  us,  more 
deeply  than  ever,  with  the  indispensableness  and  vast  importance  of  the 
work  with  which  they  are  charged;  and  contains  gratifying  evidence  of 
its  enlargement,  and  of  the  rapidly  growing  interest  that  is  enlisted  in  it. 
The  contributions  to  their  treasury  are  seventy  per  cent  in  advance  of 
those  of  the  previous  year,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent  in  advance 
of  those  of  the  year  prior  to  that ;  and,  while  the  missionaries  and  ex 
ploring  agents  employed  have  been  considerably  multiplied,  the  openings 
and  calls  for  the  service  they  perform,  urgently  demanding  immediate 
attention,  far  exceed  the  means  in  the  hands  of  the  committee,  and 
earnestly  appeal  to  our  churches,  to  place  this  cause  on  a  par  with  the 
most  prominent  objects  of  their  pecuniary  benevolence.  Our  own 
country  is  the  field  for  which  American  Christians  are  especially  re 
sponsible,  and  for  which  they  should  feel  especially  concerned,  in  ful 
filling  the  command  to  evangelize  the  world;  and  the  teaching  of  the 
Gospel,  by  the  living  pastor  and  preacher,  is  the  chief  instrumentality 
by  which  the  duty  is  to  be  discharged.  The  denomination  of  Christians, 
represented  by  this  General  Assembly,  has  hitherto  principally  employed 
the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  as  its  agency  for  the  prosecu 
tion  of  domestic  missions.  The  organization,  from  which  that  society 


DOMESTIC    MISSIONS.  335 

proceeded,  was  formed  in  the  bounds,  and  by  the  members  of  our 
Church ;  and  its  origin,  and  the  capital  of  various  kinds  which  it  has 
accumulated,  make  it  impossible,  as  a  matter  of  feeling,  of  interest,  and 
of  justice,  that  we  should  abandon  it  to  those  whom  we  have  received 
as  partners  in  it.  We  can  leave  it,  only  on  the  dissolution  of  the  firm, 
and  the  setting  up  of  its  members  in  new  establishments.  But,  while 
this  is  true,  the  number  and  magnitude  of  the  cases,  for  which  the 
American  Home  Missionary  Society  cannot  or  does  not  provide,  make  it 
imperative  upon  us,  largely  to  swell  our  contributions  to  the  church 
extension  scheme,  so  that  its  operations  may  correspond  to  the  demands 
upon  it,  without  the  incurring  of  a  farthing  of  debt.  The  purpose  of 
the  Permanent  Committee,  to  equalize  their  appropriations  and  receipts, 
deserves  cordial  approbation ;  and  the  Standing  Committee  respectfully 
propose  that  the  Assembly  should  be  understood  as  recognizing  this 
principle,  for  the  guidance  of  the  Permanent  Committee,  in  complying 
with  the  recommendations  made  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  report. 

"  So  important  are  all  the  departments  of  labor  assigned  to  the  Per 
manent  Committee,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  give  the  precedence  to 
either.  The  Standing  Committee,  however,  have  been  particularly  im 
pressed  with  the  necessity  and  value  of  the  work  of  exploring  new  and 
destitute  fields,  and  organizing  churches  on  them.  It  cannot  be  dis 
pensed  with.  To  neglect  or  inefficiently  conduct  it,  is  unfaithfulness  to 
our  trust.  Its  results  are  immediate,  as  well  as  abundant  and  large. 
An  exploring  agent,  for  example,  entered  Kansas,  about  six  months 
since,  and  during  the  sessions  of  this  Assembly  we  have  received  the 
Presbytery  of  Kansas  into  our  connection.  The  committee  recom 
mend  that  this  branch  of  the  Church  extension  work  be  prosecuted 
with  quickened  energy  and  zeal ;  and  they  would  designate  Nebraska, 
California,  and  Oregon,  as  fields  for  which  exploring  agents  should  be 
commissioned  forthwith,  if  the  requisite  funds  can  be  procured.  The 
peculiar  circumstances  of  Missouri  commend  it  to  us.  The  fast  increas 
ing  portion  of  its  people,  in  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  our  Church,  and 
accordant  with  its  position  on  matters  of  controlling  movement  and  inte 
rest,  makes  the  summons  irresistible  to  help  her.  The  near  approach  of 
the  settlement  of  titles  to  land  in  California,  the  dubiousness  of  which 
has  thus  far  hindered  Church  extension  there,  by  hindering  church 
erection,  opens  the  way  for  our  building  fund,  and  so  gives  a  free  course 
for  the  advancement  of  our  Church  j  while  the  geographical  position 
and  natural  resources  of  Nebraska  and  Oregon,  render  certain  the 


336  IX. — ON    MODES   OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

gathering  of  a  vast  population,  the  laying  of  the  foundations  of  society 
there  is  a  work  in  which  love  to  God  and  man  requires  us  to  take 
part 

"  The  Presbyteries  of  Alton,  Bloomington,  and  Chicago  complain  of 
the  action  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  in  withholding 
appropriations  from  churches  connected  with  Presbyteries  that  employ 
exploring  agents  without  the  commission  of  the  American  Home  Mis 
sionary  Society;  and  from  such  as  are  connected  with  Presbyteries,  the 
churches  of  which  do  not  contribute,  to  the  full  measure  of  their  ability, 
to  the  treasury  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society.  The  fol 
lowing  resolutions  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society  have  been  published  in  a  letter  from  the  pen  of  one 
of  the  Secretaries  : 

"  '  A  communication  having  been  received  by  the  Presbytery  of  Alton, 
inclosing  a  minute  adopted  by  that  body  at  its  late  meeting,  in  reference 
to  the  terms  of  co-operation, — 

"  'Resolved,  1.  That  the  Presbytery  be  informed  that  the  following 
principles  govern  the  Society  in  co-operating  with  auxiliaries  and  eccle 
siastical  bodies,  and  this  Committee  will  be  happy  to  co-operate  with  the 
Presbytery  on  the  same  terms,  viz.  : 

"  '  1st.  That  the  missionaries  laboring  within  the  bounds  of  an  auxili 
ary  or  ecclesiastical  body  be  commissioned  by  this  Society,  and  be 
governed  in  their  labors  by  its  principles. 

"  '  2d.  That  the  funds  raised  on  the  field  be  applied  to  cancel  the 
pledges  contained  in  the  commissions,  and  be  acknowledged  by  the  So 
ciety  as  contributed  to  its  treasury. 

" '  3d.  That  the  churches  on  the  field  co-operate  cordially  with  the 
Society  in  the  raising  of  funds,  and  contribute  yearly  to  its  treasury, 
according  to  the  full  measure  of  their  ability. 

iil  Resolved,  2.  That  this  committee  continue  to  regard  the  work  of 
exploring  and  occupying  new  fields  of  labor,  as  one  of  great  importance; 
and,  by  sustaining  general  exploring  agents  and  other  itinerant  laborers, 
having  missionary  circuits  more  or  less  extensive,  as  circumstances  may 
require,  they  are  enabled  to  reach  every  portion  of  the  field,  and  carry 
forward  with  harmony  and  efficiency  every  department  of  the  missionary 
work.' 

"  The  General  Assembly  can  never  approve  of  these  resolutions,  if 
they  are  to  be  interpreted  as, 

"1.  Denying  the  right  of  our  Presbyteries,  in  our  present  relations 


DOMESTIC    MISSIONS.  337 

to  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  to  appoint,  solely  on  their 
own  authority,  one  or  more  exploring  missionaries  within  their  bounds; 
or  as,  < 

"  2.  Asserting  it  as  a  sufficient  reason  why  the  Society  should  with 
hold  aid  from  the  feeble  churches  of  a  Presbytery,  that  other  churches 
of  such  Presbytery  contribute  the  whole,  or  a  portion,  of  their  home 
missionary  funds  elsewhere  than  to  the  treasury  of  that  Society. 

"  Churches  in  the  condition  of  those  just  referred  to,  ought  not  to  be 
left  to  suifer,  and  perhaps  to  perish ;  and,  with  a  view  to  them,  and  also 
to  churches  situated  like  those  in  Missouri,  the  powers  and  duties  of  the 
Church  Extension  Committee  ought  to  be  expanded.  It  has  hitherto 
devolved  upon  them,  1.  To  employ  agents  for  purposes  of  exploration; 

2.  To  aid  churches  in  the  chartered  limits  of  cities  and  large  towns; 

3.  To  plant  Presbyterian  churches  in  places  where  sister  denominations 
had  not  previously  occupied  the  ground;  and,  4.  To  answer  applications 
that  require  prompt  and  immediate  replies,  and  that  will  not  admit  of 
the  delay  incident  to  requests  preferred  in  other  directions. 

"  In  view  of  the  new  classes  of  exceptional  cases  to  which  they  have 
referred,  the  committee  recommend  that  the  province  of  the  Permanent 
Committee  be  still  further  enlarged,  so  that  they  may  be  authorized  to 
provide  for  churches  that  can  receive  adequate  aid  from  no  other  source. 
And  to  meet  the  increased  draft  that  must  thus  be  made  upon  their 
treasury,  it  is  desirable  that  additional  force  should  be  given  to  their 
agency  for  collecting  funds. 

"The  report  of  the  Committee  of  Conference  with  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society  has  been  referred  to  this  committee,  and  the 
following  preamble  and  resolution  are  recommended  for  the  adoption  of 
the  General  Assembly. 

"  Whereas,  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
represented  in  this  General  Assembly,  has  hitherto  prosecuted  the  work 
of  domestic  missions,  principally  through  the  agency  of  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society;  and  whereas,  complaints  have  been  made  to 
the  General  Assembly,  from  year  to  year,  and  with  increasing  earnest 
ness,  of  the  mode  in  which  that  agency  has  been  conducted,  particu 
larly  in  the  Western  and  Northwestern  States  and  Territories ;  there 
fore, 

"Resolved,  That  a  commission  of  the  General  Assembly  is  hereby 
raised,  consisting  of  Rev.  Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  D.D.,  Rev.  A.  Augustus 
Wood,  D.D.,  Rev.  Philemon  H.  Fowler,  D.D.,  Rev.  Thos.  Brainerd,  D.D., 

22 


338  IX. — ON    MODES   OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

Eev.  Eobert  W.  Patterson,  D.D.,  Rev.  Harvey  Curtis,  D.D.,  Rev. 
D.  Howe  Allen,  D.D.,  Jesse  W.  Benedict,  Esq.,  Mr.  Norman  White, 
Mr.  James  B.  Pinneo,  and  Hon.  William  Jessup  (any  four  of  them,  at 
a  meeting  properly  called,  to  constitute  a  quorum),  to  ascertain,  by  a 
thorough  investigation,  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  to  procure  such  other 
information  as  may  be  in  their  power,  relating  to  the  history  of  our  con 
nection  with  the  work  of  home  missions,  and  our  present  relations  to  it; 
also,  to  learn  the  principles  and  modes  of  the  administration  of  the 
American  Home  Missionary  Society  over  the  entire  field  of  its  opera 
tions  ;  and  to  submit  the  whole,  well  authenticated,  to  the  next  General 
Assembly."— Minutes,  1859,  pp.  40-43. 

Report  of  the  Committee,  1860. 

d.  "  The  report  of  the  Special  Committee  on  Home  Missions,  after 
further  discussion,  and  prayer  for  Divine  guidance,  was  adopted  without 
dissent,  and  is  as  follows : 

"The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  general  subject  of  home 
missions,  together  with  the  report  of  the  Commission  appointed  by  the 
General  Assembly  at  Wilmington,  to  make  investigation  respecting  the 
same,  submit,  and  recommend  for  adoption,  the  following  paper : 

"  1.  We  regard  the  statements  and  representations  made  in  the  re 
port  of  the  commission  as  essentially  correct  and  just.  And  we  believe 
that  this  lucid  and 'faithful  exposition  of  facts  and  principles,  if  brought 
before  our  churches  and  the  public  at  large,  would  remove  many  mis 
apprehensions,  arid  do  an  important  service  to  the  cause  of  truth.  It  is 
therefore  ordered,  that  at  least  5000  copies  of  the  report  be  printed, 
under  the  direction  of  the  stated  clerk  of  the  Assembly,  for  general 
circulation. 

"  2.  We  deeply  regret  that  our  relations  to  the  American  Home  Mis 
sionary  Society  seem  to  grow  more  and  more  complicated  and  embarrass 
ing.  We  see  no  prospect  of  any  such  effectual  removal  of  the  difficulties 
which  have  sprung  up  between  that  society  and  our  Church  as  will  fully 
re-establish  the  harmonious  and  beneficent  co-operation  in  the  Home 
Missionary  work,  which  was  so  happily  maintained  in  former  years.  All 
endeavors  to  effect  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of  the  matters  of  difference 
between  us  and  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  American  Home  Mis 
sionary  Society  have  proved  fruitless.  And  the  position  which  has  been 
assumed  in  relation  to  our  church  extension  operations,  and  the  action 


DOMESTIC    MISSIONS.  339 

of  the  General  Assembly,  by  the  leading  Congregational  associations  with 
which  we  are  in  correspondence,  indicates  a  deep  and  settled  feeling  on 
their  part  which  appears  to  foretoken  a  speedy  dissolution  of  the  copart 
nership  in  home  missions,  unless  we  shall  consent  to  abandon  a  great 
work,  which  we  believe  Divine  Providence  has  set  before  us,  and  shall 
retrace  steps  which  we  have  taken  under  a  most  solemn  conviction  of 
our  duty  to  God  and  to  his  Church. 

"3.  It  is  with  us  no  longer  an  open  question,  whether  we  should 
continue  to  prosecute  our  church  extension  work,  so  as  to  supply  any 
lack  of  service  that  may  exist  on  our  field,  according  to  our  own  judg 
ment  and  ability.  In  maintaining  this  position,  we  are  guilty  of  no 
breach  of  good  faith  towards  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society. 
For  we  have  never  expressly,  nor  by  remote  implication,  bound  our 
selves  to  make  that  society  the  exclusive  agency  of  our  Church  in  the 
home  missionary  work. 

"  In  pursuing  our  church  extension  work,  we  feel  that  we  are  only 
discharging  an  imperative  duty  which  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church  has 
laid  upon  us.  The  necessity  for  this  work  is  becoming  increasingly 
urgent,  in  consequence  of  new  circumstances  over  which  we  have  no 
control ;  and  we  must  go  forward,  and  not  backward,  in  the  prosecution 
of  it. 

"4.  While  we  deem  it  incumbent  on  our  Church  to  maintain  firmly 
the  principles  and  policy  regarding  this  subject,  which  have  been  here 
tofore  adopted  and  acted  upon  by  the  General  Assembly,  we  earnestly 
desire  to  effect  a  good  understanding  with  our  Congregational  brethren. 
We  have  no  disposition « to  take  any  advantage  of  them  in  our  co-opera 
tion  with  them ;  nor  do  we  assert  any  right  or  liberty  for  ourselves  which 
we  do  not  freely  accord  to  them. 

"  We  have  earnestly  desired  continued  co-operation  with  our  brethren 
in  the  work  of  home  missions,  provided  it  could  be  carried  forward  in 
consistency  with  the  proper  liberty  of  our  churches,  Presbyteries,  and 
higher  judicatories,  and  in  fraternal  confidence.  But,  if  a  separation 
must  take  place,  we  trust  that  it  may  be  effected  in  Christian  love,  and 
solely  with  a.  view  to  the  greater  peace  and  efficiency  of  both  denomi 
nations. 

"  And,  that  we  may  do  all  in  our  power  to  secure  a  wise  and  Christian 
adjustment  of  the  difficulties  by  which  we  are  encompassed,  in  relation 
to  this  subject,  the  General  Assembly  hereby  appoint  a  committee  of 
ten,  to  meet,  in  a  fraternal  conference,  a  committee  of  Congregational 
brethren  (should  such  a  committee  be  appointed),  consisting  of  two 


340  IX. — ON    MODES'  OF    EVANGELIZATION. 

members  from  each  of  the  Congregational  bodies  with  which  this  General 
Assembly  is  in  correspondence,  namely :  The  General  Association  of 
Connecticut,  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  the  General 
Convention  of  Yermont,  the  General  Association  of  New  Hampshire, 
and  the  General  Conference  of  Maine.  To  carry  into  effect  this  arrange 
ment,  the  Committee  of  Conference  are  hereby  instructed  to  address  a 
communication  to  each  of  the  bodies  already  named,  inviting  them  to 
appoint  a  like  committee  to  meet  with  the  committee  of  this  General 
Assembly.  * 

"  5.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  committee  of  the  Assembly,  herein 
provided  for,  to  use  their  utmost  endeavors  to  secure  such  an  under 
standing  between  us  and  our  Congregational  brethren,  in  regard  to  our 
co-operation  with  them  in  the  work  of  home  missions,  as  may  conduct  to 
an  equitable  and  final  settlement  of  this  whole  question. 

"  It  shall  also  be  the  duty  of  this  committee  to  make  a  full  report  to 
the  next  General  Assembly,  and  to  recommend  to  that  body  such  plans 
and  measures  pertaining  to  the  home  missionary  work  as  they  may  deem 
wise  and  necessary. 

"  6.  "We  would  lay  no  restrictions  whatever  on  our  Presbyteries  or 
churches,  as  to  the  exercise  of  their  liberty,  in  choosing  for  themselves, 
through  what  agency  they  shall  bestow  their  contributions  for  the  pro 
motion  of  the  domestic  missionary  work.  But  we  would  earnestly  urge 
them  to  do  all  in  their  power  for  the  furtherance  of  this  great  cause, 
either  through  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  or  the  Church 
Extension  Committee,  or  both,  or  through  some  other  agency;  and  to 
suffer  no  feeling  of  suspense,  as  to  the  channels*  thro  ugh  which  they  are 
to  send  forth  the  waters  of  life,  to  dry  up  the  fountains  of  their  Christian 
beneficence. 

"  Resolved,  That  four  of  the  Committee  of  Conference  appointed  by 
the  above  report  be  a  quorum  •  and  that  they  be  authorized  to  fill  their 
own  vacancies." — Minutes,  I860,  pp.  252,  254. 

"The  committee,  appointed  to  nominate  the  Committee  of  Conference 
with  a  similar  committee  to  be  appointed  by  the  General  Associations  of 
New  England,  made  the  following  nominations :  Rev.  Albert  Barnes, 
Rev.  Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  D.D.,  Rev.  Robert  W.  Patterson,  D.D.,  Rev. 
Thornton  A.  Mills,  Rev.  Edwin  Hall,  D.D.,  Rev.  Asa  D.  Smith,  D.D., 
Rev.  D.  Howe  Allen,  D.D.,  Rev.  Samuel  T.  Seelye,  Hon.  William  Jes- 
sup,  LL.D.,  and  Walter  S.  Griffith. 

*  These  bodies  respectively  refused  to  appoint  committees. 


EDUCATION   FOR   THE   MINISTRY.  341 

"  In  regard  to  the  distribution  of  the  five  thousand  copies  of  the  report 
of  the  commission,  the  committee  recommend  that  the  stated  clerk  be 
instructed  to  place  one  thousand  copies  at  the  disposal  of  the  Committee 
of  Conference,  and  to  send  the  remainder  to  the  stated  clerks  of  the 
several  Presbyteries,  dividing  them  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  com 
municants  in  each  Presbytery. 

"The  report  was  adopted."— Minutes,  1860,  p.  260. 

[On  this  subject,  see  also  Church  Extension.] 

SECTION  2. — ON  EDUCATION  FOR  THE  MINISTRY. 

].  Early  efforts  by  the  Synod  and  Assembly. — 2.  The  Board  of  Education  esta 
blished.  Passes  into  the  hands  of  the  "  Old  School''  party  at  the  division. — 3. 
Other  action.  American  Education  Society  commended.  Action  leading  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Permanent  Committee  on  Education. 

1.  Early  Efforts. 

[The  subject  of  education  for  the  ministry  early  attracted  the  atten 
tion  of  the  General  Presbytery  and  Synod  (Minutes,  1733,  p.  106  ;  1751, 
p.  246),  and  the  churches  were  urged  to  aid  pious  youth  in  their  course 
of  study.  Out  of  these  efforts  to  supply  the  lack  of  candidates  grew 
Princeton  College.  In  1806,  the  Assembly  adopted  a  report,  recom 
mending  to  the  Presbyteries  to  use  their  utmost  endeavors  to  increase 
the  number  of  candidates,  and  to  give  such  assistance  as  they  need. 
(Minutes,  1806,  p.  366.)  The  Presbyteries  were  annually  called  on  to 
report  what  they  had  done  in  the  matter.  In  1819,  the  Assembly 
resolved  to  establish  a  General  Board  of  Education.] 

2.    TJie  Board  of  Education  established ;  its  Constitution. 

a.  "  The  committee  appointed  to  draught  a  Constitution  for  establish 
ing  a  General  Board  of  Education,  agreeably  to  the  resolutions  adopted 
by  the  Assembly  on  the  subject,  reported  one,  which  being  read  and 
amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows^  viz. : 

"  I.  There  shall  be  a  General  Board  of  Education,  known  by  the  name 
of  The.  Board  of  Education,  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

"  II.  The  board  shall  consist  of  thirty-six  members ;  of  whom  there 
shall  be  twenty  ministers  and  sixteen  elders,  one  minister  and  one  elder 


342  IX. — ON    MODES   OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

to  be  chosen  from  each  Synod,  and  the  remainder  from  Philadelphia, 
and  from  a  distance  convenient  to  it.  Seven  members,  including  the 
President  or  "Vice-President,  shall  be  a  quorum  to  transact  business. 

"III.  The  whole  number  of  members  shall  be  divided  into  four 
classes,  one-fourth  to  be  annually  elected. 

"  IV.  The  election  of  the  members  of  the  board  shall  be  made  by 
nomination  and  ballot  by  the  General  Assembly. 

"  Y.  The  officers  shall  be  a  president,  three  vice-presidents,  a  record 
ing  and  a  corresponding  secretary,  and  a  treasurer,  to  be  annually  elected 
by  the  board. 

"  VI.  The  objects  of  this  board  shall  be — 

"  1.  To  recognize  such  Presbyteries  and  other  associations  as  may 
form  themselves  into  education  societies,  as  auxiliary  to  the  general 
board. 

"2.  To  assist  such  Presbyteries  and  associations  in  educating  pious 
youth  for  the  Gospel  ministry,  both  in  their  academical  and  theological 
course. 

"3.  To  assign  according  to  their  best  discretion,  to  the  several  aux 
iliary  societies,  a  just  proportion  of  the  whole  disposable  funds  under 
their  control. 

"4.  To  concert  and  execute  such  measures  as  they  shall  judge  to 
be  proper  for  increasing  their  funds,  and  promoting  the  general  object. 

"  VII.  No  young  man  shall  be  patronized  or  assisted  by  any  auxiliary 
society,  unless  he  shall  produce  a  testimonial  of  his  hopeful  piety  and 
talents  from  some  Presbytery  under  whose  care  he  shall  have  been  taken. 

"  VIII.  Auxiliary  societies  may  make  such  arrangements  and  selection 
of  a  seminary  for  the  young  men  under  their  patronage,  as,  in  their 
opinion,  shall  be  most  eligible  for  the  prosecuting  of  their  education, 
whether  classical  or  theological. 

"IX.  The  auxiliary  societies  shall  send  to  the  board  all  the  surplus 
funds  in  their  hands  which  shall  not  be  necessary  for  the  accommodation 
of  those  immediately  depending  on  them  for  support. 

"  X.  Every  auxiliary  society  shall  annually  forward  a  report  of  their 
proceedings  to  the  board,  sufficiently  early  to  enable  the  board,  whose 
duty  it  shall  be,  to  report  to  the  General  Assembly. 

"XL  The  board  shall  have  power  to  make  such  by-laws  to  regulate 
their  own  proceedings,  and  effectually  to  accomplish  the  great  objects 
of  their  appointment,  as  shall  not  be  inconsistent  with  this  Constitution. 

"XII.  The  board  may  propose  to  the  General  Assembly,  from  time 


FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  343 

to  time,  such  plans  as  they  may  consider  useful  and  necessary  for  the 
success  of  this  institution,  to  be  recommended  to  the  several  societies 
or  churches,  as  the  Assembly  may  think  proper. 

"XIII.  No  addition  or  amendment  to  the  provisions  of  this  Consti 
tution  shall  be  made,  unless  by  the  consent  of  two-thirds  of  the  members 
of  the  General  Assembly  present  at  any  of  their  sessions;  of  which 
notice  shall  be  given  at  least  one  day  previous/' — Minutes,  1819,  pp. 
714,  715. 

[This  board,  in  1838,  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  "Old  School" 
party.] 

3.    Other  Action  of  tJte  Assembly.     American  Education  Society 
commended. 

[The  American  Education  Society  was  recommended  by  the  Assem 
bly.  1838,  p.  649;  1839,  p.  24;  1840,  p.  21.  In  1852,  the  subject 
came  up  in  connection  with  the  general  matter  of  church  extension. 
The  Assembly  adopted  an  extended  report,  which  ultimately  led  to  the 
formation  of  the  Permanent  Committee  on  Education  for  the  Ministry. 
See  Minutes,  1852,  p.  170.  In  1853,  the  subject  came  up  again,  and 
was  referred  to  a  committee  of  five,  to  digest  a  plan  and  report  to  the 
next  Assembly. — Minutes,  1853,  p.  320.  See  chap,  x,  sec.  5.] 


SECTION  3. — ON  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

1.  Earliest  effort  to  evangelize  the  heathen. — 2.  First  missionary  appointment  of 
the  Synod. — 3.  Minute  on  the  Indian  Mission. — 4.  The  Assembly  declines  to 
form  a  board  of  missions  co-operative  with  the  American  Board. — 5.  The 
United  Missionary  Society  formed.  Amalgamation  with  the  American  Board. 
The  American  Board  commended. 

1.  Earliest  Efforts  to  Evangelize  the  Ueatlien. 

"  The  exigencies  of  the  great  affair  of  propagating  the  Gospel  among 
the  heathen  being  represented  unto  the  Synod,  the  Synod,  in  order  to 
promote  so  important  and  valuable  a  design,  do  enjoin  all  their  members 
to  appoint  a  collection,  in  their  several  congregations,  once  every  year, 
to  be  applied  for  that  purpose ;  and  that  the  money  raised  by  such  col 
lections,  be  yearly  sent  to  the  Synod." — Minutes,  1751,  p.  246. 

[In  1756  (Minutes,  p.  266),  "  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent  reported  that  he 


344  IX. — ON    MODES    OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

had  lately  received  a  bill  for  two  hundred  pounds  sterling,  generously 
given  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians,  and  to  be 
under  the  direction  of  this  Synod/'  A  committee  was  appointed  "  to 
draw  up  a  plan  for  the  application  of  the  money  contributed  in  Great 
Britain  for  the  use  of  the  Indians/'] 

2.   First  Missionary  Appointed.     John  Brainerd. 

a.  "  Upon  application  made  to  this  Synod,  they  agreed  to  allow  the 
interest  of  the  money  under  their  direction  for  the  propagation  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  Indians,  unto   Mr.   Brainerd,  a  missionary  to  the 
Indians,  in  order  to  assist  him  in  laboring  among  them  for  this  year." — 
Minutes,  1756,  p.  273. 

b.  u  Mr.  Brainerd  applied  to  the  Synod  for  their  advice  whether  it 
was  his  duty  to  leave  his  present  charge  at  Newark,  and  resume  his 
mission  to  the  Indians. 

"  Arguments  on  both  sides  were  fully  heard. 

"  Though  the  Synod  are  tenderly  affected  with  the  case  of  Newark 
congregation,  yet  in  consideration  of  the  great  importance  of  the  Indian 
mission,  they  do  unanimously  advise  Mr.  Brainerd  to  resume  it. 

"  The  Synod  do  further  agree  to  give  him  the  interest  of  the  Indian 
fund  for  this  year,  in  order  to  his  more  comfortable  subsistence." 
Minutes,  1759,  p.  294. 

3.  Minute  on  the  Indian  Mission. 

"  Mr.  Brainerd  has  received  the  greater  part  of  the  interest  of  the 
Indian  fund,  according  to  the  vote  of  the  Synod. 

"  It  is  known  to  many  in  the  bounds  of  this  Synod,  that  some 
ministers,  moved  with  an  holy  zeal  to  promote  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
among  the  Indian  tribes,  applied  to  the  society  in  Scotland  for  propa 
gating  Christian  knowledge,  and  obtained  a  grant  of  a  certain  sum  of 
money  yearly,  to  support  two  missionaries  to  promote  the  conversion  of 
the  savage  nations ;  they  employed  Mr.  David  Brainerd,  whose  praise  is 
in  the  churches  of  Christ,  and  whose  endeavors  were  blessed  with  re 
markable  success  in  this  great  work  of  bringing  the  Indians  to  the 
knowledge  of  Christ. 

"  It  pleased  God  soon  to  remove  him  from  his  useful  labor  on  earth 
to  the  joys  of  his  heavenly  kingdom.  As  the  name  of  Brainerd  was  dear 
to  these  poor  tribes,  his  brother  was  chosen  to  succeed  him  in  the 
mission,  in  which  station  he  continued  for  seven  or  eight  years ;  but,  as 


FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  345 

the  prospect  of  a  troublesome  war  made  the  mission  dangerous  and  dis 
agreeable,  the-  commissioners  who  employed  him  dismissed  him  from 
his  care  of  the  Indians,  and  he  was  employed  to  preach  the  Gospel  at 
Newark. 

"At  an  Indian  treaty,  the  province  of  New  Jersey  bought  all  the 
small  tracts  of  land  that  the  Indians  claimed  in  different  parts  of  the 
government;  and,  that  they  might  still  encourage  the  native  inhabitants 
to  reside  among  them  in  their  own  country,  they  bought  and  bestowed 
on  the  remnant  of  these  people  about  four  thousand  acres  of  land,  which 
they  gladly  accepted;  and,  as  many  of  them  were  converted  to 
Christianity,  they  earnestly  requested  that  Mr.  Brainerd  might  be 
granted  to  them  again  as  a  Gospel  minister. 

"  The  annuity  which  the  society  in  Scotland  had  allowed  to  the 
missionary,  was  stopped  upon  Mr.  Brainerd's  dismission,  though  there 
was  and  is  hope  of  procuring  it  again.  Mr.  Brainerd  was  requested  by 
the  governor  and  commissioners  of  Jersey  to  undertake  the  Indian 
mission.  He  applied  to  the  Synod  for  advice,  and  though  he  had  a 
very  comfortable  settlement  at  Newark,  yet  the  Synod,  through  an 
earnest  desire  to  promote  the  kingdom  of  Christ  among  these  poor 
Indians,  advised  him  to  give  up  these  temporal  advantages,  and  settle 
as  a  missionary  among  those  poor  Indians,  with  which  advice  he  readily 
and  generously  complied.  But  as  there  is  no  provision  yet  made  to. 
support  him,  and  to  answer  many  and  various  expenses  in  preaching  to, 
and  settling  schools  among  these  people,  the  Synod  think  themselves 
obliged  to  use  all  lawful  endeavors  to  support  said  mission,  and  have 
now  at  their  Synodical  meeting  agreed  to  contribute  themselves,  and  to 
make  application  to  the  congregations  in  the  bounds  of  this  Synod,  for 
a  general  collection  to  promote  this  pious  and  good  design ;  and  to  order 
that  a  collection  for  this  purpose  be  made  in  every  congregation  under 
the  care  of  this  Synod,  and  that  the  respective  collections  be  sent  by  the 
moderators  of  the  Presbyteries  before  the  beginning  of  September,  to 
Mr.  Jonathan  Sergeant,  near  Princeton,  who  is  to  receive  it  and  pay  it 
to  the  correspondents  of  the  Indian  mission,  to  be  by  them  used  for 
this  purpose. 

"  Ordered,  That  a  copy  of  this  minute  be  taken  by  the  moderators 
of  such  Presbyteries  as  are  present,  and  sent  to  such  as  are  absent." — 
Minutes,  1760,  p.  299. 

[For  other  efforts,  see  Minutes,  1763,  p.  324;  1767,  p.  375;  1768, 
p.  380;  1802,  p.  238;  1806,  p.  361,  365;  1805,  p.  331,  &c.] 


846  ix. — ox  MODES  or  EVANGELIZATION. 


4.  Answer  of  the  Assembly  to  the  American  Board,  declining  to  Form 
a  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

"The  committee  to  which  was  referred  a  letter  addressed  to  the  mo 
derator,  by  the  secretary  of  the  'American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions/'  reported,  and  the  report  being  read,  was  adopted,  and 
is  as  follows : 

"  That  having  had  under  consideration  the  important  and  interesting 
vote  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners,  by  which  they  submit 
to  the  Assembly  '  the  expediency  of  forming  an  institution  similar  to 
theirs,  between  which  and  them  may  be  such  a  co-operation  as  shall 
promote  the  great  object  of  missions  amongst  unevangelized  nations/  it 
appears  proper  to  state — 

"  1.  That  it  is  a  matter  of  sincere  joy  in  their  apprehension,  to  all  who 
love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the  souls  of  men,  a  joy  in  which  the 
committee  doubt  not  that  the  Assembly  has  a  lively  participation,  that 
the  brethren  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis 
sions  have,  by  the  exertions  they  have  used,  and  the  success  of  those 
exertions,  demonstrated  that  the  Churches  of  America  are  desirous  to 
embark  with  their  Protestant  brethren  in  Europe  in  the  holy  enterprise 
of  evangelizing  the  heathen. 

"2.  That  as  the  churches  under  the  care  of  the  Assembly  rejoice  in 
the  foreign  missions  organized  and  about  to  be  organized  by  the  Ameri 
can  Board  of  Commissioners,  so,  as  opportunity  favors,  they  ought  to  aid 
them,  as  they  have,  in  a  measure,  already  aided  them,  by  contributions 
to  their  funds,  and  by  every  other  facility  which  they  could  offer  to  so 
commendable  an  undertaking. 

"3.  That  as  the  business  of  foreign  missions  may  probably  be  best 
managed  under  the  direction  of  a  single  Board,  so  the  numerous  and 
extensive  engagements  of  the  Assembly,  in  regard  to  domestic  missions, 
renders  it  extremely  inconvenient,  at  this  time,  to  take  a  part  in  foreign 
missions.  And  the  Assembly,  it  is  apprehended,  may  rather  decline 
these  missions,  inasmuch  as  the  committee  are  informed  that  missionary 
societies  have  lately  been  instituted  in  several  places  within  the  bounds 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which  make  foreign  missions  a  particular 
object  of  their  attention. " — Minutes,  1812,  p.  515. 


FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  347 

5.  The  "United  Foreign  Missionary  Society" formed,  and  amalga 
mated  with  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis 
sions. 

a.  [In  1817,  the  "United  Foreign  Missionary  Society"  was  formed 
and  approved  by  the  Assembly.     It  embraced  "the  Presbyterian,  Dutch 
Keformed,  Associate  Reformed,  and  all  other  Churches  which  may  choose 
to  join  them."    Minutes,  1817,  p.  657.     This  society  reported  to  the 
Assembly,  and  was  recommended  by  it  from  year  to  year,  until  1826, 
when   it  was  united  with  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions.] 

b.  "  The  report  of  the  committee  on  a  communication  from  a  com 
mittee  of  the  Managers  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  was 
taken  up,  and,  after  mature  deliberation,  it  was 

"Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  do  consent  to  the  amalgama 
tion  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  and 
the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

"Resolved  further,  That  this  General  Assembly  recommend  the  Ame 
rican  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  to  the  favorable 
notice  and  Christian  support  of  the  Church  and  people  under  our  care." 
—Minutes,  1826,  p.  175. 

Committee  of  Conference. 

a.  "  The  committee  on  Overture  No.  6,  viz.,  l  A  memorial  on  the  sub 
ject  of  Foreign  Missions/  made  a  report,  which  being  read  and  amended, 
was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  elected  to  attend  the  next 
annual  meeting  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  and  confer  with  that  body  in  respect  to  measures  to  be  adopted 
for  enlisting  the  energies  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  more  extensively 
in  the  cause  of  missions  to  the  heathen ;  and  that  said  committee  report 
the  results  of  this  conference,  and  their  views  on  the  whole  subject,  to 
the  next  General  Assembly."— Minutes,  1831,  p.  328. 

b.  "  The  report  of  the  committee  who  were  appointed  by  the  last  As 
sembly  to  attend  the  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and 
confer  with  that  body,  &c.,  was  taken  up,  and  after  some  discussion  the 
following  resolution  was  adopted,  viz. : 

"Resolved,  That  while  the  Assembly  would  express  no  opinion  in  re 
lation  to  the  principles  contained  in  the  report,  they  cordially  recommend 


348  IX. — ON    MODES   OP   EVANGELIZATION. 

the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  to  the  affec 
tion  and  patronage  of  their  churches." — Minutes,  1832,  p.  370. 

c.  [In  1831,  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society  was  formed  by 
the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  and  offered  to  the  Assembly.  Minutes,  1835,  p. 
488.  The  transfer  was  refused  by  the  Assembly.  Minutes,  1886,  p. 
278.  In  1837,  "  The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions"  was  organized  by 
the  Assembly,  and  is  now  in  possession  of  the  "Old  School"  Assembly. 
Since  the  division,  the  General  Assembly  has  continued  to  approve  and 
to  co-operate  with  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions.  Minutes,  passim.  See  chap,  x,  sec.  6.] 


SECTION  4. — ON  THE  BIBLE. 

1.  Gratuitous  distribution.  Aitkin's  edition. — 2.  Collins's  edition.  Ostervald's 
Notes  commended. — 3.  The  American  Bible  Society.  The  Bible  to  be  <nven  to 
every  family,  and  to  the  whole  world. — 4.  The  common  version  commended, 
and  a  "new  version"  deprecated. — 5.  Co-operation  with  the  Society  urged. 

1.    Gratuitous  Distribution.      Aitkin's  Edition. 

"  The  Synod,  taking  into  consideration  the  situation  of  many  people 
under  their  care,  who,  through  the  indigence  of  their  circumstances,  are 
not  able  to  purchase  Bibles,  and  are  in  danger  of  perishing  for  lack  of 
knowledge — 

"  Ordered,  That  every  member  of  this  body  shall  use  his  utmost  in 
fluence  in  the  congregation  under  his  inspection,  and  in  the  vacancies 
contiguous  to  them,  to  raise  contributions  for  the  purchasing  of  Bibles, 
to  be  distributed  among  such  poor  persons ;  and  that  Drs.  Sproat  and 
Ewing,  and  Mr.  Duffield,  be  a  committee  to  receive  such  contributions, 
to  purchase  Bibles  therewith,  d*nd  send  them  to  the  several  members  of 
this  Synod,  who,  in  conjunction  with  their  respective  Sessions,  shall  dis 
tribute  them.  And  as  Mr.  Aitkin,  from  laudable  motives,  and  with 
great  expense,  hath  undertaken  and  executed  an  elegant  impression  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  which,  on  account  of  the  importation  of  Bibles 
from  Europe,  will  be  very  injurious  to  his  temporal  circumstances, 
Synod  further  agree  that  the  above  committee  shall  purchase  Bibles  of 
the  said  impression  and  no  other,  and  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all  to 
purchase  such  in  preference  to  any  other." — Minutes,  1783,  p.  500; 
also,  1781,  p.  503;  1785,  p.  506. 


THE   BIBLE.  849 

2.    Collins1  s  Edition.      Ostervald's  Notes  recommended. 

["  Mr.  Collins,  printer  to  the  State  of  New  Jersey,"  proposing  to  issue 
an  edition,  the  Assembly  appointed  a  committee  to  procure  subscrip 
tions.]  "  The  General  Assembly  also  confirm  the  appointment  made  by 
the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  that  Dr.  John  Witherspoon, 
Dr.  Samuel  S.  Smith,  and  Mr.  James  F.  Armstrong,  be  a  committee  to 
concur  with  any  such  committee  as  may  be  appointed,  whether  from  any 
other  denomination,  or  from  any  other  Synod  of  our  denomination,  to 
revise  and  correct  the  proof-sheets,  and,  if  necessary,  to  fix  upon  the 
most  correct  edition  of  the  Scriptures  to  be  recommended  to  the  printer, 
from  which  to  make  his  impression ;  and  that  the  said  committee  be  or 
dered  to  agree  with  the  printer,  that  Ostervald's  Notes,  if  not  incon 
sistent  with  the  views  of  other  denominations  of  Christians  engaged  in 
this  undertaking,  be  printed  with  it,  in  such  manner  as  may  best  pro 
mote  the  publication. 

"  The  General  Assembly,  desirous  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  eternal 
life  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  earnestly  recommend  to  all  the 
congregations  under  their  care  to  encourage  this  undertaking." — Minutes, 
1789,  pp.  12,  13.  [Also  1790,  p.  25;  1791,  p.  41.] 

3.  American  Bible  Society. 

a.  li  The  General  Assembly  record  with  gratification  and  heartfelt 
pleasure  the  information  they  have  received  of  the   formation  of  an 
American  Bible  Society,  a  few  days  since,  in  the  city  of  New  York ; 
and  from  the  unanimity  manifested  by  all  denominations  of  Christians 
on  that  occasion,  the  fervor  of  zeal  displayed,  and  eagerness  manifested 
by  the  numerous  and  highly  respectable  delegation  which  attended,  to 
combine  their  exertions  in  promoting  the  best  interests  of  their  fellow- 
men,  by  furnishing  them  with  the  word  of  life,  they  cannot  but  believe 
that  it  is  the  work  of  God ;  that  it  will  stand,  and  prove  a  rich  blessing 
to  those  who  may  enjoy  the  fruits  of  its  exertions." — Minutes,  1816,  p. 
620. 

The  Bible  to  be  given  to  every  Family  in  our  Land. 

b.  "  On  motion,  it  was — 

"Resolved  unanimously,  That  the  General  Assembly  view  with  pecu 
liar  satisfaction  the  measure  recently  proposed  by  the  American  Bible 


350  IX. — ON    MODES   OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

Society,  to  supply  every  destitute  family  in  the  United  States  with  a 
copy  of  the  Bible  in  the  course  of  two  years ;  and  that  it  be  cordially 
recommended  to  the  Presbyteries,  individual  ministers,  and  churches, 
connected  with  the  Assembly,  to  use  their  endeavors  to  carry  the  above 
measure,  in  reliance  on  the  blessing  of  the  Almighty,  into  full  and  pros 
perous  effect."— Minutes,  1829,  p.  269. 


The  Bible  to  be  given  to  the  whole  World. 

c.  "  The   committee   recommend  the  following  resolutions   for   the 
adoption  of  the  Assembly,  viz. : 

"  1.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  people  of  God  to  give  the  Bible  to  every 
family  and  dweller  upon  earth,  in  the  earliest  period  of  time  in  which 
it  is  possible  to  do  it. 

"2.  Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  the  General  Assembly,  the 
Church  of  Christ  is,  under  God,  able  to  give  the  Word  of  God  in  a  com 
paratively  short  time,  and  much  shorter  than  is  ordinarily  supposed,  to 
the  whole  world ',  and  that,  from  the  peculiar  position  and  resources  of 
the  American,  and  especially  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States,  our  responsibility  in  this  momentous  service  is,  beyond  all  other 
people,  great  and  pressing. 

"3.  Resolved,  That  inasmuch  as  the  fixing  of  a  definite  period  has 
some  important  benefits  connected  with  it,  and  as,  in  the  judgment  of 
the  General  Assembly,  the  period  agreed  upon  is  sufficiently  long,  it  be 
recommended  to  all  the  churches  under  the  care  of  this  Assembly,  and 
respectfully  proposed  to  all  the  sister  churches  in  correspondence  with 
our  own,  to  follow  the  noble  example,  and  unite  in  the  important 
resolution,  of  the  Society  of  Virginia,  viz.  :  To  endeavor  to  give .  the 
Bible  to  the  whole  world,  in  a  period  of  not  more  than  twenty  years. 

"  Adopted."— Minutes,  1835,  p.  483. 

Recommendation  to  fix  a  Month  for  Annual  Collections. 

d.  "1.  Believing,  as   this   Assembly  does,  in   the   great  Protestant 
doctrine  that  the  Bible  is  indispensable  to  the  well-being  of  the  State 
and  the  Church,  of  families  and  individuals,  therefore — 

"Resolved,  That  it  becomes  one  of  the  clearest  of  duties  to  promote 
the  diffusion  of  this  sacred  volume  as  extensively  as  possible. 

"2.  As  the  history  of  Bible  society  organizations  in  the  present  cen- 


THE   BIBLE.  351 

tury  shows,  that,  through  their  instrumentality,  an  unparalleled  increase 
of  translations  and  distributions  has  been  effected ',  that  the  best  of  all 
books  has  thus  become  the  lowest  of  all  in  price,  is  kept  clear  from 
sectarian  perversions,  and  is  primarily  and  mainly  furnished  to  the 
destitute,  therefore — 

"Resolved,  That  this  mode  of  preparing  and  circulating  the  Word  of 
God  has  the  hearty  approbation  of  this  General  Assembly. 

11  3.  As  the  American  Bible  Society  has  co-operating  branches  and 
auxiliaries  in  most  parts  of  the  country,  designed  and  calculated  to 
facilitate  the  supply  of  our  own  population  with  the  Scriptures,  there 
fore — 

"Resolved,  That  the  churches  and  congregations  be  invited  to  co 
operate  with  these  local  organizations,  and  render  them  efficient  in  fur 
nishing  destitute  families,  Sunday  schools,  and  all  who  need,  with  Bibles 
and  Testaments. 

"  4.  As  the  parent  society,  by  the  growth  of  new  States  and  Terri 
tories,  by  the  revolutions  of  Europe,  and  by  the  progress  of  missions  in 
Mahommedan  and  Pagan  countries,  is  now  called  upon  annually  for  a 
much  larger  amount  of  means  than  it  can  furnish  towards  preparing  and 
circulating  the  Scriptures  (having  a  deficiency  of  nearly  $30,000  the 
past  year),  therefore — 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  considered  the  duty  of  our  respective  charges, 
where  circumstances  will  permit,  to  assign  a  month  in  each  year  when  a 
collection  shall  be  taken  up,  whether  a  Bible  agent  be  present  or  not,  in 
furtherance  of  this  important  object. 

"Adopted."— MwMtes,  1849,  pp.  179,  180. 


4.  Common  Version  commended,  and  a  New  Version  deprecated. 

"  Your  committee  report  an  overture  from  the  Synod  of  Missouri, 
respecting  the  common  version  of  the  Bible.  The  said  memorial  sets 
forth  the  fact  that  strenuous  efforts  have  been  made  for  years,  and  are 
now  made,  especially  in  the  West,  to  destroy  confidence  in,  and  set 
aside,  our  common  and  most  excellent  version  of  the  Bible,  as  very 
defective  and  sectarian,  and  to  introduce  a  new  one. 

"The  memorial,  moreover,  sets  forth,  that  we,  as  Presbyterians,  have 
been  misrepresented,  and  the  idea  conveyed  that  some  of  our  ministers 
favor  this  scheme.  Our  silence  on  the  subject  has  resulted  in  making 


352  IX. — ON    MODES   OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

the  impression,  among  some  of  our  people,  that  the  common  version  of 
the  Bible  is  not  worthy  of  confidence ;  therefore — 

11  Resolved^  1.  That  we  have  unshaken  confidence  in  our  common  ver 
sion,  and  a  firm  belief  that  a  better  one,  on  the  whole,  for  common  use 
cannot  be  had. 

"Resolved,  2.  That  we  deprecate  the  incalculable  evils  that  would 
inevitably  result  from  such  an  attempt,  by  any  denomination  or  denomi 
nations,  to  introduce  a  new  version,  destroying,  as  it  would,  confidence 
in  our  common  version,  ejecting  it  from  our  schools,  opening  the  way 
for  conflicting,  sectarian  versions,  and  sadly  wounding  and  marring  our 
beautiful  Protestantism. 

"Resolved,  3.  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  not  one  of  our 
judicatories,  and  not  one  minister,  approves  of,  or  sympathizes  with,  this 
injudicious  sectarian  movement. 

"Resolved,  4.  That  all  our  ministers  be  careful,  in  expounding  the 
word  publicly,  so  to  expound  as  to  inspire  and  sustain  confidence  in  our 
excellent  version  as  truly  the  Word  of  Grod :  believing,  as  we  do,  that 
the  honest-hearted  inquirer  searching  after  the  truth,  with  a  teachable 
spirit,  will  find  it. 

"Adopted."— Minutes,  1855,  p.  28. 


5.  Co-operation  urged. 

"  The  following  preamble  and  resolution  were  unanimously  adopted : 

"  As  the  American  Bible  Society  resolved,  at  its  late  anniversary,  that, 

with  Divine  aid  and  the  co-operation  of  its  friends,  it  would  endeavor, 

as  early  as  practicable,  to  supply  every  destitute  family  in  our  country 

with  the  Bible,  therefore — 

"Resolved,  That  this  General  Assembly,  now  convened,  have  great 
satisfaction  in  expressing  their  warm  approval  of  the  undertaking;  and 
to  secure  its  accomplishment,  would  not  only  pledge  their  own  exertions, 
but  invite  the  pastors  and  churches  here  represented  to  lend  their  assist 
ance  in  carrying  it  forward,  particularly  in  their  connection,  respectively 
with  the  local  auxiliaries,  the  main  channels  through  which  the  sacred 
Word  is  to  reach  those  who  are  without  it." — Minutes,  1856,  p.  197. 


RELIGIOUS   BOOKS   AND   TRACTS.  353 


SECTION  5. — ON  RELIGIOUS  BOOKS  AND  TRACTS. 

1.  Religious  books  and  tracts  distributed  gratuitously. — 2.  Formation  of  tract 
societies  commended. — 3.  American  Sunday-School  Union  approved. — 4.  The 
"  American"  societies  endorsed. 

1.  Religious  JBooJcs,  Tracts,  &c.,  distributed  Gratuitously. 

a.  "  The  Synod  finding  the  money  collected  some  years  ago  for  defray 
ing  the  expense  attending  the  missions  appointed  on  pur  frontiers  is 
nearly  expended,  agree  to  have  a  collection  this  year  through  their 
bounds  upon  the  same  plan  with  the  former.  And,  as  it  is  judged  it 
might  be  useful  to  extend  this  public  chanty  to  purchase  such  religious 
books  as  the  Synod  may  approve  of,  to  be  given  to  poor  congregations, 
the  following  members  are  appointed  to  consider  this  matter,  and  bring 
in  an  overture  to  be  subjected  to  the  Synod  as  soon  as  they  conveniently 
can,  viz. :  Messrs.  McWhorter,  Montgomery,  and  Ogden." — Minutes, 
1772,  p.  428. 

1.  "  The  committee  appointed  last  Friday  to  draw  up  an  overture  with 
respect  to  the  general  collection  and  the  distribution  of  books,  brought 
one  in,  which,  after  correction,  is  as  follows : 

"  1.  That  the  Synod  recommend  a  general  collection  in  all  the  churches 
under  their  care. 

"  2.  That  the  Synod  write  a  pastoral  letter,  in  which  they  shall  return 
thanks  to  their  several  congregations  for  their  former  generosity,  and 
solicit  their  future  favors. 

"3.  That  the  Synod  particularly  desire  the  charity  of  the  public  for 
those  purposes,  viz.  :  For  defraying  the  expenses  of  sending  missionaries 
to  the  frontiers,  and  such  other  places  as  are  unable  to  support  the 
Gospel ;  for  purchasing  useful  books  to  distribute  in  said  places  under 
the  direction  of  committees  to  be  appointed  for  that  purpose ;  for  propa 
gating  Christian  knowledge  among  the  Indians ;  and  for  such  other  pious 
uses  as  may  occur  from  time  to  time. 

"  The  following  books  were  proposed  and  agreed  to  be  procured  and 
distributed,  viz. :  Bibles,  Westminster  Confessions  of  Faith,  small  edition 
of  Vincent's  Catechism,  Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress  of  Religion,  A 
Compassionate  Address  to  the  Christian  World,  Allein's  Alarm  to  the 
Unconverted,  Dr.  Watt's  Divine  Songs  for  Children,  and  the  Assembly's 
Catechism. 

23 


854  IX. — ON    MODES   OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

"  And  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  and  distributing  those  books  we 
appoint  for  a  committee  at  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Alison,  Mr.  Sproat,  Mr. 
Montgomery,  Mr.  Bayard,  and  Mr.  Jonathan  Smith;  and  at  New  York, 
Dr.  Rodgers,  Mr.  Treat,  Mr.  McWhorter,  Mr.  Caldwell,  Mr.  Y.  B.  Liv 
ingston,  and  Mr.  Robert  Ogden.  And  the  committees  are  restricted  not  to 
lay  out  this  year  above  ten  pounds  proclamation  currency  each  for  the 
purposes  aforesaid.  But  if  any  well-disposed  person  will  send  the  com 
mittees  books  or  pamphlets  which  they  judge  will  answer  the  intention 
of  the  Synod  to  promote  Christian  knowledge,  they  are  desired  to 
distribute  these  also." — Minutes,  1772,  p.  429. 

c.  "  For  the  purpose  of  procuring  books  to  bestow  on  the  poor :  in 
Philadelphia,  Dr.  Francis  Alison,  Mr.  Sproat,  Mr.  Montgomery,  Mr. 
John  Bayard,  and  Mr.  Jonathan  Smith ;  and  in  New  York,  Dr.  Rodgers, 
Mr.  Treat,  Mr.  McWhorter,  Mr.  Caldwell,  and  Mr.  Noel  are  appointed 
as  committees,  and  that  they  do  not  exceed  the  sum  of  twenty  pounds 
proclamation  currency,  to  be  laid  out  by  each  committee,  and  that  they 
draw  on  the  treasurer  for  this  sum." — Minutes,  1773,  p.  441. 

d.  "  The  committees  appointed  last  Synod  to  purchase  books  and  dis 
tribute  them  among  the  poor  on  the  frontiers,  report,  that  they  have 
complied  with  the  order,  and  disposed  of  the  whole  of  the  sum  allowed 
at  New  York,  and  the  whole  also  of  the  sum  allowed  at  Philadelphia, 
except  one  pound  seven  shillings  and  eight  pence,  but  as  the  committee 
at  Philadelphia  have  not  yet  received  an  account  of  any  distribution 
made  by  the  persons  to  whose  care  they  have  committed  them  on  the 
frontiers,  the  Synod  direct  them  to  inquire  as  soon  as  possible  into  that 
matter,  and  use  their  best  endeavors  to  have  said  distribution  made  (if 
not  already  done),  and  procure  what  information  they  can,  of  the  success 
attending  said  distribution,  and  make  report  at  next  meeting  of  Synod." 
—Minutes,  1774,  p.  452.     See  also,  1794,  p.  93,  &c. 

e.  "That  there  be  made  a  purchase  of  as  many  cheap  and  pious  books 
as  a  due  regard  to  the  other  objects  of  the  Assembly's  funds  will  admit, 
with  the  view  of  distributing  them,  not  only  along  the  frontiers  of  these 
States,  but  also  among  the  poorer  classes  of  people,  and  the  blacks,  or 
wherever  it  is  thought  useful  -,  which  books  shall  be  given  away,  or  lent, 
at  the  discretion  of  the  distributor.     And  that  there  be  received  from 
Mr.  Robert  Aitken,  toward   the  discharge  of  his  debt,  books  to  such 
amount  as  shall  appear  proper  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Assembly,  who  are 
hereby  requested  to  take  proper  measures  for  the  distribution  of  the 
same." — Minutes,  1801,  p.  229. 

[See  also,  1802,  p.  259 ;  1803,  p.  268  j  1805,  p.  346 ;  1806,  p.  361,  &c.] 


RELIGIOUS   BOOKS   AND   TRACTS.  355 


2.  Formation  of  Tract  Societies  recommended. 

The  committee  appointed  to  report  on  the  establishment  of  a  society 
for  procuring  and  distributing  religious  tracts,  reported  the  following 
resolution,  and  it  was  adopted  : 

"Resolved,  That  whereas  it  appears  to  this  Assembly,  that  great  and 
increasing  good  has  accrued  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  by  the  distribution 
of  small,  cheap  religious  tracts ;  it  is  hereby  earnestly  recommended 
that  each  Synod  take  measures  for  establishing  as  many  religious  tract 
societies  within  their  bounds,  by  association  of  one  or  more  Presbyteries, 
as  may  be  most  convenient  for  this  purpose;  and  that  such  societies  may 
adopt  such  plan  for  carrying  into  effect  the  object  of  this  resolution,  as 
may  be  most  conducive  in  their  judgment  to  this  end." — Minutes,  1809, 
p.  429. 

[See  chap,  x,  sec.  3,  on  Publication.] 

3.  American  Sunday- School  Union. 

a.  i(  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  communication  from  the 
American  Sunday-School  Union,  recommended  the  following  resolution, 
which  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  do  cordially  approve  of  the 
design  and  operations  of  the  American  Sunday-School  Union  j  and  they 
do  earnestly  recommend  to  all  the  ministers  and  churches  under  their 
care,  to  employ  their  vigorous  and  continued  exertions  in  the  establish 
ment  and  support  of  Sabbath-schools." — Minutes,  1826,  p.  181. 

I.  [On  memorial  of  the  Sunday-School  Union,  stating  their  purpose, 
by  Divine  aid,  to  establish  a  Sunday-school,  where  practicable,  in  every 
destitute  place  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Assembly] 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  the  pastors  and 
sessions  of  ail  our  churches  and  congregations,  to  present  this  subject  to 
their  people,  and  solicit  their  prayers  and  labors,  and^contributions,  to 
aid  the  society  in  the  accomplishment  of  this  important  work." — 
Minutes,  1830,  p.  297. 

4.    The  "American  Societies"  commended. 

u  That  the  Assembly  recommend  to  all  the  congregations  connected 
with  this  body,  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 


356  IX. — ON   MODES   OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

Missions,  the  American  Bible  Society,  the  American  Education  Society, 
the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  the  American  Tract  Society, 
and  the  American  Sunday-School  Union,  as  institutions  every  way 
worthy  of  patronage  and  support ;  and  as  affording  safe,  convenient,  and 
perhaps  the  best  channels  through  which  their  contributions  may  reach 
the  objects  contemplated  respectively  by  these  societies." — Minutes, 
1840,  p.  21. 

SECTION  6. — ON  AFRICAN  COLONIZATION. 

].  First  notice  of  the  scheme;   recommended. — 2.  Collections  on  the  Fourth  of 
July  recommended. — 3.  Recognition  of  Liberian  independence  urged. 

1.  First  Notice. 

a.  "  The  Assembly  notice  with  pleasure  the  general  attention  and 
exertion  to  alleviate  the  condition  of  the  people  of  color  in  almost  all 
parts  of  the  country.  A  society  for  the  colonization  of  free  people  of 
this  description  is  formed,  and  is  patronized  by  the  first  characters  of 
our  nation. " — Minutes,  1817,  p.  651. 

American  Colonization  /Society  recommended. 

I.  "  We  recommend  to  all  our  people  to  patronize  and  encourage  the 
Society  lately  formed  for  colonizing  in  Africa,  the  land  of  their  ancestors, 
the  free  people  of  color  in  our  country.  We  hope  that  much  good  may 
result  from  the  plans  and  efforts  of  this  Society.  And  while  we  exceed 
ingly  rejoice  to  have  witnessed  its  origin  and  organization  among  the 
holders  of  slaves,  as  giving  an  unequivocal  pledge  of  their  desires  to 
deliver  themselves  and  their  country  from  the  calamity  of  slavery,  we 
hope  that  those  portions  of  the  American  Union  whose  inhabitants  are, 
by  a  gracious  Providence,  more  favorably  circumstanced,  wJll  cordially, 
and  liberally,  and  earnestly  co-operate  with  their  brethren  in  bringing 
about  the  great  end  contemplated." — Minutes,  1818,  p.  693. 

c.  "  The  following  overture  was  submitted  to  the  Assembly,  which 
being  read  and  amended,  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"The  objects  and  plans  of  the  American  Society  for  colonizing  the 
free  people  of  color  of  the  United  States,  having  been  stated  to  the 
General  Assembly,  and  the  same  having  been  considered  and  discussed, 
the  Assembly — 


AFRICAN    COLONIZATION.  357 

"  Resolved,  That,  in  their  opinion,  the  plan  of  the  society  is  benevolent 
in  its  design,  and,  if  properly  supported,  and  judiciously  and  vigorously 
prosecuted,  calculated  to  be  extensively  useful  to  this  country  and  to 
Africa. 

"  The  situation  of  the  people  of  color  in  this  country  has  frequently 
attracted  the  attention  of  this  Assembly.  In  the  distinctive  and  indeli 
ble  marks  of  their  color,  and  the  prejudices  of  the  people,  an  insuperable 
obstacle  has  been  placed  to  the  execution  of  any  plan  for  elevating  their 
character,  and  placing  them  on  a  footing  with  their  brethren  of  the  same 
common  family.  In  restoring  them  to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  the 
Assembly  hope  that  the  way  may  be  opened,  not  only  for  the  accom 
plishment  of  that  object,  but  for  introducing  civilization  and  the  Gospel 
to  the  benighted  nations  of  Africa. 

"  From  the  information  and  statements  received,  the  Assembly  believe 
that  the  proposed  colony  in  Africa  may  be  made  a  powerful  auxiliary  in 
the  efforts  which  are  making  to  abolish  the  -iniquitous  traffic  in  slaves 
carried  on  in  Africa,  and  happily  calculated  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a 
gradual  emancipation  of  slaves  in  our  own  country,  in  a  legal  and  con 
stitutional  manner,  and  without  violating  the  rights  or  injuring  the 
feelings  of  our  Southern  brethren. 

"  With  these  views,  the  Assembly  feel  it  a  duty  to  recommend  the 
American  Society  for  colonizing  the  free  people  of  color  of  the  United 
States  to  the  patronage  and  attention  of  the  churches  under  their  care, 
and  to  benevolent  individuals  throughout  the  Union." — Minutes,  1819, 
p.  710. 

2.  Collections  on  Fourth  of  July  recommended. 

"Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  recommend  to  the  churches  under 
their  care  to  patronize  the  objects  of  the  American  Colonization  Society, 
and  particularly  that  they  take  up  collections  in  aid  of  its  funds  on  the 
Fourth  of  July  next,  or  on  the  Sabbath  immediately  preceding  or  suc 
ceeding  that  day,  and  whenever  such  course  may  be  thought  expedient 
to  give  their  assistance,  in  such  manner  as  may  be  most  conducive  to 
the  interests  of  the  general  cause." — Minutes,  1825,  p.  154.  [See  also 
1826,  p.  180;  1831,  p.  332;  1832,  p.  365;  1833,  p.  411.] 

3.  Recognition  of  Liberian  Independence  urged. 
"  The  following  resolutions  were  presented  and  unanimously  adopted  : 


358  IX. — ON    MODES   OF   EVANGELIZATION. 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  draft  a  minute  and  resolutions  relative 
to  colonization,  and  the  desirableness  of  a  recognition  of  the  republic  of 
Liberia  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  report  as  follows  : 

"  The  enterprise  of  colonization  has  been  before  the  American  people 
about  forty  years,  and  has  been  thoroughly  discussed.  Whatever  diver 
sity  of  views  may  prevail  as  to  its  capacity  or  incapacity,  its  effect  or  lack 
of  effect  upon  the  subject  of  a  final  abolition  of  slavery,  your  committee 
believe  that  very  little  diversity  exists  as  to  the  fact  that  a  great  practi 
cal  blessing  to  Africa,  and  a  real  social  and  civil  benefit  to  the  emigrant 
colonists,  have  resulted  from  the  establishment  of  the  republic  of  Liberia. 
By  it,  the  colored  man,  removed  from  those  impediments  which,  in  this 
land,  hindered  the  full  and  immediate  development  of  his  capabilities 
for  self-government,  has  been  enabled  at  once,  on  a  theatre  to  which  the 
eyes  of  the  civilized  world  are  turned,  to  demonstrate  them  beyond  the 
power  of  disputation,  and  thus  to  exert  a  mighty  moral  influence  for  the 
benefit  and  elevation  of  his -race.  By  it,  schools,  churches,  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  regulated  government,  freedom,  have  been  set  up  upon  the 
shores  of  a  barbarous,  despotic,  superstitious  continent,  and  are  sending 
abroad  their  benign  influences  from  year  to  year  in  an  ever-increasing 
measure. 

11  Thirty  years  after  the  organization  of  the  first  Colonization  Society, 
the  colony  of  Liberia,  yet  feeble,  was  compelled  to  set  forth  its  Declara 
tion  of  Rights,  and  to  assume  the  constitutional  organization  of  an 
independent  republic.  This  event,  which  marks  an  era  in  the  history 
of  Africa  and  her  children,  occurred  in  1846;  since  which  period,  with 
a  rapidity  which  has  exceeded  the  anticipation  of  the  most  sanguine 
minds,  this  new  nation  has  been  steadily  acquiring  strength  and  re 
spectability. 

"The  nations  of  Europe  answered  the  appeal  of  this  rising  State,  and 
cordially  encouraged  it  by  liberal  treaties  and  an  open  recognition.  We 
regret  to  say  that  our  own  Government  has  not  hitherto  afforded  to  it 
the  same  moral  support.  A  strange  anomaly  is  seen  in  the  fact,  that 
the  great  republic  of  the  North,  looked  to  for  sympathy  and  support  by 
all  people  struggling  for  liberty,  fails  to  afford  sympathy  or  acknowledg 
ment  to  a  sister  republic,  whose  origin,  whose  similarity  of  form,  and 
whose  successful  attempt  at  self-government,  it  should  seem,  would  make 
the  claim  almost  imperative. 

"In  view  of  such  facts  and  considerations,  the  committee  recommend 
the  following  resolutions  to  be  adopted  as  the  sense  of  this  Assembly : 


SYSTEMATIC   BENEFICENCE.  359 

"1.  That  the  original  project  of  colonization,  so  far  as  it  proposed 
to  introduce  civilization,  free  government,  and  Christianity  among  the 
people  of  Africa,  merits,  as  it  has  already  received,  the  cordial  approba 
tion  and  friendly  sympathy  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  2.  That,  as  Christians  and  Americans,  we  look  with  delight  upon 
the  success  already  achieved  in  the  rescue  of  more  than  five  hundred 
miles  of  seacoast  from  the  manifold  crimes  and  miseries  which  the  slave 
trade  inflicted  upon  it,  and  in  the  successful  organization  and  adminis 
tration  of  republican  government  by  the  emigrants  to  Liberia,  thus 
triumphantly  vindicating  their  capacity  for  the  highest  duties  of  society. 

u  3.  That,  in  view  of  the  origin  of  the  people  of  Liberia,  of  the  entire 
correspondence  of  their  laws  and  Constitution  with  our  own,  and  of  their 
rapidly  growing  commerce  and  greatness,  their  republic  has  peculiar 
claims,  both  of  justice  and  policy,  for  an  open  recognition  by  the  Ameri 
can  Government ;  and  that  we  •  sincerely  regret  that  the  empires  of 
France  and  Brazil,  and  the  monarchies  of  England,  and  Russia,  and 
Belgium,  have  been  permitted  to  anticipate  the  action  of  our  country. 

"  4.  That  whenever  colored  emigrants,  already  free,  or  offered  liberty 
by  their  masters  at  the  South,  on  the  condition  of  their  emigrating, 
solicit  aid  to  reach  Liberia,  we  cordially  recommend  them  to  the  sym 
pathies  and  assistance  of  the  churches  under  our  care." — Minutes,  1853, 
pp.  329,  330. 


SECTION  7. — ON  SYSTEMATIC  BENEFICENCE. 

1.  The  plan  endorsed,  and  urged  upon  the  churches. — 2.   The  American  System 
atic  Beneficence  Society  recommended. 

"  The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Benevolent  Societies  was  adopted, 
viz. : 

"  1.  This  Assembly  would  recognize,  with  devout  gratitude  to  God, 
the  success  that  has  attended  the  labors  of  most  of  our  great  national 
societies  during  the  last  year;  that  notwithstanding  the  unprecedented 
commercial  embarrassments  by  which  the  year  has  been  distinguished, 
most  of  these  societies  have  been  enabled  to  prosecute  their  work,  and, 
with  few  exceptions,  to  meet  and  sustain  all  their  responsibilities. 

"The  Assembly  have  in  these  facts  an  additional  proof  that  some  at 
least  of  these  contributions  to  this  cause  are  made  from  principle,  and 


360  IX. — ON    MODES    OP   EVANGELIZATION. 

that  Christians  are  ready,  to  some  extent,  to  make  sacrifices  in  the  cause 
of  Christ. 

"2.  That  the  Assembly  recognize  with  pain  the  fact,  that  while  some 
have  done  so  nobly  and  so  well,  yet  the  number  of  contributors  to  the 
cause,  compared  with  the  whole  number  in  our  communion,  is  lamenta 
bly  small,  the  largest  portion,  by  far,  of  our  communicants  withhold 
ing  their  contributions  altogether. 

"3.  That  it  be  recommended  to  our  Synods,  Presbyteries,  and  church 
Sessions  to  devise,  if  possible,  some  method  by  which  a  more  general 
application  shall  be  made  to  every  member  of  the  Church ;  so  that  our 
whole  Church  may  be  engaged  to  take  a  part  in  the  glorious  enterprise 
of  reclaiming  the  world  to  Christ. 

"  4.  That  it  be  commended  to  the  attention  of  pastors  and  stated 
preachers  in  our  Church  to  consider  well  if  more  cannot  be  done  by 
them  in  the  advocacy  of  benevolent  action,  and  in  the  collection  of  funds, 
than  has  hitherto  been  attempted ;  the  Assembly  being  fully  satisfied 
that  no  person  can  be  so  well  qualified  to  judge  what  are  the  best  means 

to  be  employed  in  any  given  case  as  the  pastor  of  the  congregation. 
«  5          *         *         #         * 

"  6.  That  this  Assembly  are  fully  satisfied  that  neither  of  these  enter 
prises  is  in  a  condition  at  present  to  dispense  with  the  employment  of 
agents,  yet  they  are  fully  satisfied  that  a  much  smaller  number  would 
be  demanded,  and  those  employed  enabled  to  extend  their  labors,  each ' 
to  a  much  larger  field,  if  a  portion  of  the  labor  in  collecting  funds  could 
be  performed  by  collectors,  male  and  female,  appointed  in  each  congre 
gation  for  the  purpose.  They  therefore  recommend  to  pastors,  Sessions, 
and  friends  of  the  cause  generally,  such  organizations  in  the  respective 
congregations  as  shall  bring  the  leading  enterprises  of  benevolence  before 
every  member  of  the  Church,  without  the  personal  application  of  an 
agent  every  year/' — Minutes,  1840,  pp.  21,  22. 

"American  Systematic  Beneficence  Society"  commended. 

"Resolved,  1.  That  the  subject  of  systematic  beneficence  be  earnestly 
commended  to  the  attention  and  action  of  our  churches. 

"2.  That  '  The  American  Systematic  Beneficence'  Society,  already 
organized  in  Philadelphia,  be  commended  to  the  co-operation  of  all  our 
Synods,  Presbyteries,  and  Sessions." — Minutes,  1856,  pp.  195, 196. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    PERMANENT    COMMITTEES. 

"Resolved,  That  the  committees  appointed  at  the  opening  of  each 
Assembly  be  called  Standing  Committees,  and  those  outside  of  the  As 
sembly,  Permanent  Committees." — Minutes,  1856,  p.  192. 

SECTION  1. — PRELIMINARY  ACTION. 

1.  Reports  of  committees  in  1849  and  1850,  looking  to  raising  up  ministers,  ga 
thering  and  organizing  churches,  and  building  church  edifices. — 2.  A  full  report 
on  Church  extension.  The  American  Home  Missionary  Society  recommended. 
Each  Presbytery  to  appoint  a  standing  committee  on  Church  extension,  and  to 
take  the  oversight  of  the  work  within  their  own  bounds.  The  Home  Missionary 
Society  requested  not  to  require  the  official  sanction  of  any  of  its  agents  to  a  Pres- 
byterial  application.  Exploring  missionaries  encouraged.  Committee  of  Con 
ference  with  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society. — 3.  Report  of  the  Com 
mittee  of  Conference. 

1.  Preliminary  Action. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  the  committee 
of  the  last  Assembly  on  Home  Missions,  reported  the  following  resolu 
tions,  which,  after  much  discussion,  were  adopted : 

"  1.  Resolved,  That  the  Providence  of  God,  as  indicated  in  the  won 
derful  improvements  of  the  age,  in  the  commotions  of  the  Old  World, 
the  influx  of  foreigners,  and  the  unparalleled  increase  of  population  in 
our  extensive  and  extending  country,  calls  for  the  entire  consecration 
and  most  self-denying  and  efficient  action  of  the  Christian  ministry. 

"2.  That  the  friends  of  Christ  are  called  upon  to  use  all  wise  and 
Christian  means  to  raise  up  ministers,  and  meet  the  emergencies  of 
coming  years. 


362  X. THE   PERMANENT    COMMITTEES. 

"3.  That  our  Presbyteries  are  admonished  to  secure,  so  far  as  possi 
ble,  a  good  supply  for  all  the  feeble  churches  under  their  care,  and  to 
gather  congregations  and  organize  churches  in  the  towns  and  settlements 
in  which  it  may  be  practicable ;  either  by  employing  a  permanent  mis 
sionary  agent,  or  by  such  other  means  as  the  circumstances  and  neces 
sities  of  these  destitute  fields  demand. 

"4.  That  those  ministers  who  preach  to  two  or  more  congregations 
should  use  their  best  endeavors  to  induce  the  elders  of  the  churches  to 
hold  Sabbath-schools,  in  connection  with  some  form  of  religious  wor 
ship,  at  a  regular  hour  every  Sabbath-day,  when  their  ministers  cannot 
be  present. 

"  5.  That  we  should  make  efforts  to  induce  the  children  of  immigrants 
to  attend  our  Sabbath-schools,  and  the  adults,  our  congregations;  and 
when  they  are  converted,  to  join  our  churches,  or  to  organize  churches 
of  their  own  in  connection  with  us ;  that,  as  soon  as  possible,  they  may 
be  Americanized  in  their  language  and  feelings,  and  become  evangelical 
in  their  religion. 

"  6.  That  every  congregation  which  has  no  church  edifice  should, 
without  unnecessary  delay,  build  themselves  a  suitable  house  of  worship; 
that  generally  this  should  be  done  by  their  own  exertions,  or  by  such  aid 
only  as  can  be  secured  in  their  own  vicinity. 

"But  if,  in  any  case,  a  church  or  churches  of  a  district  of  country 
really  need  assistance  from  abroad,  then  the  strong  ought  to  help  bear 
the  burdens  of  the  weak  ;  and,  in  all  such  cases,  those  asking  aid  should 
bear  such  testimonials  from  the  Synods  to  which  they  belong  that  the 
benefactors  may  know  that  their  charities  will  be  well  bestowed." — 
Minutes,  1849,  p.  178. 

Church  Extension. 

a.  "The  following  resolutions  were  then  adopted  on  the  subject  of 
home  missions  : 

"1.  "Resolved,  That  in  the  last  command  of  Christ  to  his  disciples 
we  recognize  a  command  obligatory  on  our  branch  of  the  Church,  to 
preach  the  Gospel  and  establish  religious  institutions  throughout  the 
entire  extent  of  our  national  domain,  as  far,  and  as  fast,  as  that  domain 
becomes  inhabited. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  our  Presbyteries  be  recommended  to  take  such 
action  within  their  respective  bounds  that,  either  by  themselves,  or  by 


PRELIMINARY   ACTION.  363 

the  aid  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society,  new  churches  may  be  organized 
wherever  circumstances  will  permit,  and  the  stated  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  be  supplied  in  churches  now  destitute,  as  speedily  as  possible/' — 
Minutes,  1850,  p.  315. 

Church  Erection. 

~b.  3.  "  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  all  our  churches  to  strive 
earnestly  to  render  our  religious  institutions  permanent,  by  the  erection 
of  church  edifices,  and  the  settlement  of  pastors,  whenever  this  can  be 
done  ;  and  in  this  work  the  older  and  wealthier  churches  ought  to '  co 
operate  with  the  younger  and  feebler." — Ibid. 

Education. 

c.  "4.  Resolved,  That  the  searching  out  and  bringing  forward  of 
young  men,  of  hopeful  piety  arid  talent,  as  candidates  for  the  Gospel 
ministry,  is  an  integral  and  essential  part  of  the  missionary  enterprise, 
and,  as  such,  demands  the  constant  vigilance  and  untiring  efforts  of  the 
ministers  and  elders  of  our  churches  in  all  parts  of  the  land." — Ibid. 

2.  A  full  Report  on  the  general  subject  of  Church  Extension. 

"The  whole  subject  [of  Church  extension]  was  accordingly  referred 
to  a  special  committee,  consisting  of  the  Rev.  Thornton  A.  Mills,  Rev. 
Nathan  S.  S.  Beman,  D.D.,  Rev.  Frederick  A.  Ross,  Rev.  Artemas 
Bullard,  D.D.,  Rev.  Asa  D.  Smith,  D.D.,  Rev.  D.  Howe  Allen,  D.D., 
Rev.  James  B.  Townsend,  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Fisher,  and  Rev.  Robert  W. 
Patterson;  four  of  whom  to  form  a  quorum." — Minutes,  1851,  p.  29. 

[The  report  of  the  committee  was  the  next  year  presented,  amended, 
and  adopted,  viz. :] 

"To  promote  more  extensively  the  work  of  domestic  missions,  the 
General  Assembly  hereby  adopts  the  following  arrangement : 

"  1.  The  American  Home  Missionary  Society  is  hereby  recommended 
to  the  Presbyteries  as  the  agency  through  which,  as  heretofore,  the  work 
of  domestic  missions  shall  be  done;  and  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods 
are  requested  to  adopt,  as  far  as  they  may  deem  proper  in  their  circum 
stances,  the  following  or  similar  arrangements  : 

"2.  Each  Presbytery  shall  elect  a  Standing  Committee  on  Church 


864  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

Extension  to  serve  one  year,  and  continue  in  office  till  successors  are 
appointed,  who  shall,  under  its  direction,  attend  to  the  general  interests 
of  this  work  within  its  bounds. 

"3.  Each  Presbytery  shall  see  that,  by  its  own  ministers  or  other 
suitable  agency,  the  claims  of  home  missions  shall  be  presented  annually 
to  each  of  its  churches,  and  that  proper  efforts  are  made  to  bring  their 
liberality  into  free  and  becoming  exercise  towards  this  cause ;  these 
contributions  to  be  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  American  Home  Mis 
sionary  Society,  or  any  of  its  auxiliaries,  and  to  be  raised  with  as  little 
expense  to  that  Society  as  possible. 

"4.  Each  Presbytery  shall  recommend  all  applications  for  aid  from 
any  of  its  churches;  and  shall  be  careful  to  see  that  the  amount  asked 
for  is  the  lowest  which  will  fairly  answer  the  purpose.  And  it  is  recom 
mended,  that  the  appropriations  sought  be  diminished  from  year  to  year, 
if  it  can  be  safely  done,  that  the  churches  may  be  brought  to  a  self-sus 
taining  standard  as  soon  as  possible. 

"  5.  The  American  Home  Missionary  Society  is  hereby  requested  to 
arrange  its  system  of  appropriations,  so  that  applications  made  by  any 
Presbytery  for  its  churches  shall  not  require  the  official  sanction  of  any 
agent  of  that  Society.  It  is  not  intended,  however,  by  this  recommen 
dation,  to  abridge  the  right  of  the  Society  to  obtain  information  as  to 
such  applications,  or  to  use  its  full  discretion  as  to  granting  them  in  whole 
or  in  part. 

"  6.  Each  Presbytery,  whose  circumstances  as  to  territory,  churches, 
and  numbers  demand  it,  is  recommended  to  appoint  an  itinerant  mis 
sionary  within  its  bounds.  Or  each  Synod,  where  it  is  best  that  two  or 
more,  or  all,  of  its  Presbyteries  shall  be  united  in  this  work,  is  recom 
mended  to  appoint  such  a  missionary,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  act  as  a 
travelling  evangelist,  after  the  scriptural  pattern,  to  explore  destitute 
fields ;  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  formation  of  new  churches  by  the 
Presbyteries;  to  seek  for  ministers  to  take  charge  of  them;  to  assist 
and  direct  in  building  houses  of  worship  in  destitute  places;  and  in  all 
other  suitable  ways,  under  the  direction  of  Presbyterial  or  Synodical 
committees,  promote  the  work  of  Church  extension. 

"  7.  Each  Synod  shall  appoint  yearly  a  Church  Extension  Cemmittee, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  take  the  supervision  of  any  agencies  which 
shall  be  established,  to  arrange  and  carry  out  some  plan  to  aid  in  the 
erection  of  churches  in  destitute  places,  to  conduct  the  home  missionary 
business  of  the  Synod  generally,  and  make  a  full  report  at  each  meeting. 


PRELIMINARY   ACTION.  365 

"8.  Each  Synod  shall  require  a  yearly  collection  from  its  churches, 
to  assist,  by  loan  or  gift,  feeble  churches  to  erect  houses  of  worship  in 
destitute  places;  which  funds  shall  be  distributed  by  the  Synod's  com 
mittee  among  those  churches  which  may  apply  for  it,  according  to  their 
necessities.  And  the  older  and  abler  Synods  of  the  Church  are  earnestly 
recommended  to  contribute  of  their  abundance  to  aid  the  feebler  Synods 
in  this  work. 

"9.  Each  Synod  is  hereby  charged  with  the  review  of  the  course  of 
its  Presbyteries  in  the  duties  now  assigned  them;  and  is  further  re 
quired  to  report  to  the  General  Assembly,  through  its  Standing  Com 
mittee,  its  proceedings  up  to  the  first  of  April  in  each  year. 

"  10.  Each  Presbytery  is  further  required,  in  addition  to  its  statistical 
report  and  narrative,  to  forward  yearly  to  the  General  Assembly  a  full 
report  of  its  various  arrangements  for  Church  extension,  stating  the 
number  of  its  ministers,  and  the  particular  manner  in  which  they  are 
employed;  the  number  of  its  churches,  and  how  they  are  supplied;  the 
gross  amount  of  funds  collected  in  its  bounds  for  home  missions  and 
church  erection ;  the  amount  received  by  its  churches  from  the  Ameri 
can  Home  Missionary  Society,  or  any  similar  institution;  the  number  of 
houses  of  worship,  with  their  probable  value,  and  whether  they  are  free 
from  debt ;  the  number  of  new  churches  organized,  and  new  houses  of 
worship  erected;  what  itinerant  arrangements  have  been  adopted  for 
preaching  the  Gospel;  what  and  how  much  agency  has  been  employed; 
together  with  all  such  other  facts  and  suggestions  as  will  show  from  year 
to  year  what  has  been  accomplished,  and  what  may  need  to  be  under 
taken  to  bring  all  the  churches  to  a  proper  degree  of  effort  to  promote 
the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

"11.  The  stated  clerk  is  required,  in  due  time  previous  to  the  meet 
ing  of  each  General  Assembly,  to  notify  the  stated  clerks  of  the  Synods 
and  Presbyteries,  by  a  circular  letter,  of  the  foregoing  requirement  as 
to  reports. 

"  12.  There  shall  hereafter  be  appointed,  with  the  other  standing  com 
mittees  of  the  General  Assembly,  one  on  Church  extension,  to  whom 
shall  be  committed,  at  an  early  period  of  their  sessions,  the  Synodical 
and  Presbyterial  reports  on  the  subject,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  present 
a  condensed  view  of  them  to  the  Assembly,  with  such  further  proposi 
tions  to  promote  this  work  as  they  may  deem  desirable.  This  standing 
committee  shall  be  required  to  report  as  soon  as  a  faithful  discharge  of 
its  duties  will  permit. 


366  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

"13.  A  committee,  consisting  of  five,  is  hereby  appointed  to  confer 
with  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  So 
ciety,  expressing  to  it  the  kind  feelings  and  confidence  of  the  General 
Assembly  and  the  churches  it  represents,  and  requesting  its  co-operation 
in  this  plan,  as  far  as  its  principles  will  admit ;  and  also  requesting  a 
statement  of  the  principles  on  which  its  appropriations  are  made  to  the 
churches  of  the  several  denominations  of  Christians  who  support  it;  the 
results  of  which  conference  shall  be  reported  to  the  next  General  As 
sembly. 

"The  Rev.  George  Duffield,  D.D.,  Rev.  Philemon  H.  Fowler,  and 
Hon.  Daniel  Haines  were  appointed  a  committee  to  nominate  the  com 
mittee  of  five  contemplated  in  the  13th  article;  and  on  the  nomination 
of  the  committee  the  following  persons  were  appointed,  viz..  Rev.  George 
Duffield,D.D.,  Rev.  Nathan  S.  S.  Beman,  D.D.,  Rev.  Thornton  A.  Mills, 
Rev.  Robert  W.  Patterson,  and  Hon.  John  L.  Mason." — Minutes,  1852, 
pp.  171-173. 

3.  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Conference  with  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society,  1853. 

11  The  Committee  of  Conference  with  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society  report  as  follows  : 

"  That  they  have  been  much  gratified  in  receiving  the  assurance,  from 
this  correspondence,  and  from  personal  conference  with  the  Rev.  D.  B. 
Coe,  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society, 
that  said  Society  has  no  disposition  to  interfere  in  anywise  with  the 
ecclesiastical  functions  of  the  Synods  and  Presbyteries,  but  rather,  in 
just  so  far  as  it  can,  consistent  with  its  organization  and  principles  as  a 
voluntary  association,  to  blend  its  agency  with  theirs  in  the  promotion  of 
the  one  great  common  object,  the  extension  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom. 
The  Missionary  Committee  of  each  Presbytery  is  recognized  by  the  So 
ciety  as  the  appropriate  body  to  certify  the  wants  of  any  particular 
church  seeking  aid,  the  standing  of  the  minister  and  his  prospects  of 
usefulness,  and  to  endorse  and  recommend  the  application. 

"  The  Society  utterly  disclaims  any  purpose  of  permitting  its  agents 
to  interfere  with  the  ecclesiastical  relations  of  the  churches,  or  to  over 
rule  the  recommendations  of  the  Presbyterial  Missionary  Committees,  or 
the  intention  to  make  any  discrimination  in  the  appropriations  in  favor 
of  one  denomination  and  against  another. 


THE   CHURCH   EXTENSION   COMMITTEE.  367 

"  The  long  connection  which,  has  existed  between  our  churches  and 
the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  as  the  receiving  and  disbursing 
agent  of  the  churches  in  carrying  forward  their  domestic  missionary 
work,  the  efficiency  with  which  the  Society  has  performed  its  duties, 
and  the  general  impartiality  and  fidelity  with  which  it  has  discharged 
its  important  and  sometimes  difficult  trust,  force  upon  us  the  conviction 
that  our  home  missionary  work  can  be  more  successfully  prosecuted,  in 
existing  circumstances,  under  our  present  arrangements,  than  by  any 
new  organization. 

"  At  the  same  time,  we  are  fully  satisfied  that  the  rules  of  the  Society, 
well  designed,  and  undoubtedly  wise  and  beneficial  in  their  general 
working,  do,  nevertheless,  sometimes  prevent  the  extension  of  the  Gospel 
under  its  auspices,  in  many  of  our  new  and  rapidly-growing  cities  and 
towns  of  the  West,  in  cases  where  the  importance  of  the  work,  and  the 
incalculable  good  which  might  result  therefrom,  demand  some  aid.  "We 
are  aware,  also,  that  the  recent  revival  of  denominational  zeal  which  has 
occurred,  will  render  the  continued  co-operation  of  different  sister  deno 
minations  in  the  missionary  work  much  more  delicate  and  difficult  than 
heretofore,  and  may  occasion  injustice  to  be  done  through  subordinate 
agents,  without  intention  to  do  so  on  the  part  of  the  Executive  Com 
mittee  of  the  Society.  Mutual  forbearance,  however,  and  that  charity 
which  the  apostle  commends  to  his  Corinthian  brethren,  and  that  fear 
of  God  which  will  lead  one  to  suffer  rather  than  inflict  a  wrong,  may,  we 
believe,  enable  the  co-operating  parties  to  continue  thus  their  joint 
labors  happily  and  successfully,  cultivating,  also,  thereby,  the  most  diffi 
cult  graces,  by  often  exercising  them/' — Minutes,  1853,  pp.  340,  341. 


SECTION  2. — THE  CHURCH  EXTENSION  COMMITTEE. 

1.  The  powers  and  duties  of  the  Assembly  in  regard  to  home  missions.  Com 
mittee  on  Church  Extension  established  ;  located  in  Philadelphia.  Powers  only 
such  as  are  conferred  by  the  Assembly.  The  functions  of  the  committee  desig 
nated.  Intention  to  interfere  with  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  dis 
avowed.  Number  of  the  committee,  classes,  and  term  of  office.  Five  a  quorum. 
The  committee  has  power  to  fill  its  vacancies  in  the  recess  of  the  Assembly. — 
2.  Intent  of  the  appointment  of  the  committee,  not  to  change  the  co-operative 
policy  of  the  Church,  but  to  supplement  existing  agencies. — 3.  The  committee 
authorized  to  use  their  own  discretion  in  cases  where  prompt  action  is  required. 
— 4.  The  powers  and  duties  of  the  committee  enumerated  and  enlarged.  Au- 


368  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

thorized  to  provide  for  churches  which  can  receive  aid  from  no  other  source. — 
5.  The  committee  instructed  to  prosecute  their  work  with  all  energy.  Feeble 
churches  to  ask  the  least  sum  possible.  General  contributions  urged  in  all  the 
churches  not  aided  by  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society. — 6.  The  Board 
of  Missions  has  no  authority  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  orthodoxy  or  morality 
of  a  minister  in  good  standing  in  his  own  Presbytery. — 7.  The  committee  can 
make  no  discrimination  between  churches  having  the  same  standing  under  the 
Constitution. — 8.  Rules  of  the  committee. 


1.    Tfie  Report   of  the  Standing  Committee.      The  Church  Extension 
Committee  established. 

"  The  Assembly  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  report  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Church  Extension,  relative  to  the  overtures  on  the  subject  of 
home  missions,  when,  after  full  discussion,  it  was  adopted,  and  is  as 
follows : 

"The  Committee  on  Church  Extension,  to  whom  was  referred  the 
overtures  and  memorials  on  the  subject  of  home  missions  from  the  Third 
and  Fourth  Presbyteries  of  Philadelphia,  the  Synod  of  Iowa,  and  the 
Presbyteries  of  Chicago  and  Iowa  City,  respectfully  report :  That  their 
attention  has  been  especially  directed  to  those  cases  of  home  missionary 
effort  which  are  excluded  by  the  rules  of  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society.  Such  are,  for  example,  the  employment  of  Synodical,  Presby- 
terial,  and  generally  of  exploring  or  itinerant  Presbyterian  Missionaries, 
and  the  planting  of  Presbyterian  churches  in  advance  of  all  others  in 
towns  and  neighborhoods,  and  the  founding  of  churches  within  the 
chartered  limits  of  cities  and  large  villages. 

"The  Form  of  Government  of  our  Church,  chapter  xviii,  expressly 
authorizes  the  inferior  judicatories  to  apply  to  the  General  Assembly  for 
missionary  assistance,  and  in  express  terms  authorizes  the  Assembly  to 
send  missionaries  to  any  part  of  the  Church.  The  principles  of  our 
Presbyterianism,  applicable  to  this  subject,  are,  that  the  Church  is  one; 
that,  in  accordance  with  this  idea,  the  stronger  parts  of  the  Church  must 
assist  the  weaker,  and  that  the  reservoir  into  which  the  surplus  shall 
flow  to  be  equalized  and  distributed,  is  the  General  Assembly.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  details  of  the  reception  and  distribution  of  funds  for 
this  object  cannot  be  arranged  by  the  whole  body  of  the  Assembly,  but 
that  the  Assembly  must  employ  some  agency  for  this  purpose ;  and  our 
opinion  is,  that  it  is  entirely  free  to  choose  any  agency  whatever.  Of 
course,  it  may  operate  through  a  voluntary  association  like  the  American 


THE   CHURCH   EXTENSION   COMMITTEE.  369 

Home  Missionary  Society;  but  your  committee  do  not  conceive  that  its 
use  of  that  society  for  specific  purposes  either  gives  that  society  a  right 
to  control  the  whole  subject  of  Church  extension  for  our  denomination, 
or  releases  the  General  Assembly  from  its  own  obligation  to  do  so.  The 
older  and  richer  Synods,  indeed,  do  not  feel  so  much  the  pressure  of 
this  necessity,  as  they  are  able  to  afford  the  needed  supplementary  aid 
from  their  own  resources ;  but  it  is  urged  upon  us  from  the  more  new 
and  destitute  portions  of  our  Church,  that  our  interests  are  grievously 
suffering,  because  neither  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  nor 
any  other  agency  meets  their  wants  in  certain  respects,  such  as  those 
which  have  been  already  mentioned;  and  their  appeal  in  this  behalf  is 
made  just  where  the  Constitution  of  our  Church  directs  that  it  should 
be  made, — to  the  General  Assembly  itself. 

"  This  being  obviously,  therefore,  a  case  which  cannot  be  reached  so 
effectually  by  any  action  of  the  inferior  judicatories,  your  committee 
connot  see  how  the  Assembly  can  refuse  to  exercise,  in  regard  to  it,  that 
power  of  '  superintendence  of  the  concerns  of  the  whole  Church/  ex 
pressly  confided  to  it  by  the  Constitution.  They  therefore  recommend 
the  following  action  : 


Name,  Power?,  and  Functions  of  the  Committee. 

a.  "Resolved,  1.  That  the  General  Assembly  hereby  establishes  a 
standing  committee,  to  be  called  The  Church  Extension  Committee,  a 
majority  of  whom  shall  reside  in  or  near  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  This 
committee  shall  have  no  other  powers  than  those  conferred  by  the  As 
sembly;  and  the  functions  now  assigned  to  them  are  those  of  employing 
Presbyterial,  Synodical,  and  other  Presbyterian  itinerant  or  exploring 
agents,  and  affording  aid  in  such  exceptional  cases  as  those  already 
mentioned,  and  also  the  receiving  and  disbursing  of  funds  for  these 
objects. 


Intention  to  interfere  with  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 

disavowed. 

1.  "2.  That,  in  recommending  this  course  of  action,  the  General  As 
sembly  distinctly  declare  that  it  is  not  their  intention  thus  to  establish 
an  ecclesiastical  board,  or  to  interfere  with  the  proper  functions  of  the 
American  Home  Missionary  Society,  but,  as  heretofore,  they  recommend 

24 


370  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

that  society  to  the  confidence  and  co-operation  of  the  churches  under 
their  care. 


Number,  Classes,  and  Term  of  Office,  of  tlie  Committee. 

c.  "3.  That  the  Standing  Committee  on  Church  Extension,  now  con 
stituted,  shall  consist  of  fifteen  members,  to  be  chosen  by  the  Assembly 
in  such  manner  as  the  Assembly  may  direct,  and  the  committee  shall,  at 
its  first  meeting,  divide  itself  into  three  equal  parts,  to  serve  respectively 
one,  two,  and  three  years ;  but  the  same  persons  shall  be  re-eligible  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  Assembly." 


Quorum;  Power  to  Jill  Vacancies  in  the  Recess  of  the  Assembly. 

d.  "4.  Five  members  of  the  committee  shall  be  a  quorum;  but  in 
order  to  elect  any  salaried  officer  of  the  committee,  or  to  increase  or 
diminish  the  salary  of  the  same,  a  majority  of  the  committee  shall  be 
necessary  to  constitute  a  quorum.  The  committee  shall  have  power  to 
fill  any  vacancies  occurring  while  the  Assembly  is  not  in  session,  and 
they  shall  make  an  annual  report  to  the  Assembly  of  all  their  proceed 
ings."—  Minutes,  1855,  pp.  20-22. 


2.  Intent  of  the  Appointment  of  the  Committee. 

"In  establishing  the  Committee  on  Church  Extension,  the  General 
Assembly  distinctly  declared,  that  it  was  not  their  intention  to  change 
the  co-operative  policy  of  our  Church  on  the  subject  of  home  missions, 
but  merely  to  provide  a  supplementary  agency  to  attend  to  the  cases 
needing  assistance,  which  could  not  be  met  in  consistency  with  the  rules 
of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society.  The  committee  clearly 
apprehend  the  object  of  their  appointment,  and  correctly  defined  it  in  a 
document  put  forth  in  August  last;  and  this  Assembly  commend  the 
strict  and  prudent  adherence  of  the  committee  to  the  principles  therein 
contained.  There  is  nothing  in  the  original  appointment  of  the  com 
mittee,  when  properly  understood,  nor  in  its  action,  to  excite  the  fears 
which  have  been  expressed  by  corresponding  bodies,  that  our  Church 
has  started  on  a  crusade  to  propagate  sectarianism." — Minutes,  1856, 
pp.  219,  220. 


THE   CHURCH   EXTENSION   COMMITTEE.  371 


3.  The  Committee  to  use  its  discretion  in  Cases  requiring  prompt  Action. 

"Resolved,  That  while  this  Assembly  would  make  no  change  in  the 
general  basis  of  our  operations  in  the  department  of  Church  extension, 
yet,  in  view  of  the  fact  that,  as  experience  shows,  great  and  perplexing 
delays  are  found  to  result  in  many  cases  from  a  literal  and  rigid  adhe 
rence  to  the  restrictions  under  which  the  Committee  on  Church  Exten 
sion  have  acted  hitherto,  they  are  hereby  authorized  to  exercise  their 
discretion  in  relation  to  such  applications  for  aid  as  may  seem  to  require 
prompt  and  immediate  action/' — Minutes,  1857,  p.  409. 

4.  Powers  of  the  Committee  enlarged. 

"  Churches  in  the  condition  of  those  just  referred  to  (from  whom  aid 
has  been  withheld  by  the  Home  Missionary  Society),  ought  not  to  be 
left  to  suffer,  and  perhaps  to  perish ;  and  with  a  view  to  them,  and  also 
to  churches  situated  like  those  in  Missouri,  the  powers  and  duties  of  the 
Church  Extension  Committee  ought  to  be  expanded.  It  has  hitherto 
devolved  upon  them  :  1.  To  employ  agents  for  purposes  of  exploration  ; 
2.  To  aid  churches  in  the  chartered  limits  of  cities  and  large  towns;  3. 
To  plant  Presbyterian  churches  in  places  where  sister  denominations 
had  not  previously  occupied  the  ground ;  and  4.  To  answer  applications 
that  require  prompt  and  immediate  replies,  and  that  will  not  admit  of 
the  delay  incident  to  requests  preferred  in  other  directions. 

"  In  view  of  the  new  classes  of  exceptional  cases  to  which  they  have 
referred,  the  committee  recommend  that  the  province  of  the  Permanent 
Committee  be  still  further  enlarged,  so  that  they  may  be  authorized  to 
provide  for  churches  that  can  receive  adequate  aid  from  no  other  source. 
And  to  meet  the  increased  draught  that  must  thus  be  made  upon  their 
treasury,  it  is  desirable  that  additional  force  be  given  to  their  agency  for 
collecting  funds. 

"  Adopted."— Minutes,  1859,  p.  43. 

5.  Committee  instructed  to  prosecute  their  Work  with  energy. 

"  The  report  of  the  Permanent  Committee  affords  encouraging  proof 
of  progress  in  the  work  of  church  extension.  This  work  is  steadily 
growing  on  the  hands  of  the  committee,  and  is  carried  forward  by  them 
with  wisdom  and  efficiency.  An  increase  of  about  fifty  per  cent,  in  the 


372  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

receipts  of  the  committee  within  the  past  year  shows  that  this  cause  is 
taking  a  deep  hold  on  the  hearts  of  our  people.  The  importance  of  the 
exploring  agencies  that  are  employed  by  the  committee  can  hardly  be 
overestimated.  New  and  wide  fields  are  opening,  that  must  not  be 
neglected  by  our  Church.  The  number  of  our  feeble  churches  that  can 
receive  aid  only  from  this  Church  Extension  Committee  is,  from  special 
causes,  rapidly  increasing.  These  churches  must  not  be  suffered  to  die, 
or  be  driven  to  other  denominations  for  support,  as  the  condition  of 
their  continued  existence.  The  present  condition  of  our  home  mission 
ary  affairs  multiplies,  and  will  multiply,  the  demands  for  the  efficient 
prosecution  of  our  Church  extension  enterprise.  The  coming  year  will 
be  one  of  great  importance  in  the  history  of  this  work.  A  large  increase 
upon  the  present  receipts  of  the  committee  will  be  urgently  needed. 

"  In  view  of  the  whole  case,  we  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  fol 
lowing  resolutions : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  the  report  of  the  Church  Extension  Committee 
be  approved,  and  that  the  committee  are  hereby  instructed  to  prosecute 
their  work  with  all  the  energy  that  they  can  command. 

"2.  That  we  urge  our  feeble  churches  that  make  application  to  the 
committee  for  aid  to  use  their  utmost  endeavors  to  help  themselves,  and 
to  ask  the  committee  for  the  smallest  amount  with  which  they  can 
adequately  support  their  ministers. 

"  3.  That  we  request  all  the  churches  in  our  connection,  that  are  not 
aided  by  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  to  take  up  collections 
at  an  early  day  for  the  Church  extension  cause." — Minutes,  1860,  p. 
255. 


6.  The  Board  of  Missions  has  no  authority  to  sit  in  Judgment  upon  the 
Orthodoxy  or  Morality  of  a  Minister  in  good  standing  in  his  own 
Presbytery. 

"  In  answer  to  the  questions  propounded  by  the  Presbyteries  of  Union 
and  French  Broad,  the  Assembly  would  say,  that,  though  they  do  not 
recognize  in  the  Board  of  Missions  the  authority  to  sit  in  judgment 
upon  the  orthodoxy  or  morality  of  any  minister  who  is  in  good  standing 
in  his  own  Presbytery,  yet,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  they  must 
exercise  their  own  sound  discretion  upon  the  expediency  or  inexpediency 
of  appointing  or  withholding  an  appointment  from  any  applicant,  holding 


THE    CHURCU   EXTENSION    COMMITTEE.  373 

themselves  amenable  to  the  General  Assembly  for  all  their  official  acts." 
—Minutes,  1830,  p.  290. 


7.    The  Committee  can  make  no  discriminations  between  Churches 
having  the  same  standing  under  the  Constitution. 

"The  Standing  Committee  on  Church  Extension,  to  whom  was  re 
ferred  the  resolution  proposing  that  the  General  Assembly  should  in 
struct  the  Church  Extension  Committee  to  offer  no  assistance  to  any 
church  that  has  in  its  communion  one  or  more  slaveholders,  reported  as 
follows  : 

"1.  The  Permanent  Committee  on  Church  Extension  is  appointed  to 
act  for  the  whole  Church,  being  an  organ  of  the  General  Assembly, 
which  represents  the  whole  Church,  and  we  can  see  no  defensible  prin 
ciple  on  which  such  a  committee  could  make  discriminations,  on  moral 
grounds,  between  churches  that  are  recognized  as  having  the  same 
ecclesiastical  standing  under  our  common  Constitution. 

"  2.  The  position  of  cur  Church  is  well  understood  to  be  one  of 
opposition  to  the  spirit  and  the  system  of  slavery;  and  we  have  no 
reason  to  believe  that  any  churches  connected  with  us  are  using  their 
influence  to  sustain  and  fortify  that  institution. 

"3.  If  it  be  true  that  any  members  of  churches  in  our  connection 
hold  slaves  under  mistaken  views  of  their  duty  towards  them,  we  do  not 
see  that  this  affords  any  sufficient  reason  for  withholding  from  them  the 
Bread  of  Life,  and  such  enlightened  teachings  as  we  believe  our  minis 
try  are  qualified  and  disposed  to  impart,  in  relation  to  all  the  great  prin 
ciples  of  Christian  duty.  We  sympathize  with  all  Christian  endeavors 
to  remove  imperfection  and  sin  from  the  Church  of  Christ ;  but  we 
think  this  end  is  to  be  accomplished  not  by  withdrawing  the  Gospel 
from  those  who  need  it,  but  by  affectionate  and  prayerful  efforts  to  apply 
the  principles  of  our  holy  religion  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  every 
Christian  who  is  willing  to  receive  instruction. 

"4.  The  Church  Extension  Committee  are  fully  aware  of  the  ground 
which  our  Church  occupies  with  reference  to  this  subject,  and  we  have 
confidence  that  they  will  conscientiously  discharge  their  duty  with  an 
enlightened  regard  to  the  promotion  of  righteousness  and  holiness  in  the 
Church,  and  in  the  world. 

"  Adopted."— Minutes,  I860,  p.  258. 


874  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

8.  Rules  of  the  Church  Extension  Committee. 

"1.  Quarterly  meetings  of  the  committee  shall  be  held  alternately  in 
the  cities  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  on  the  third  Tuesdays  of  April, 
July,  October,  and  January,  at  one  o'clock  p.  M.,  at  which  meetings 
alone  the  more  important  business  not  requiring  haste  shall  be  trans 
acted  ;  such  as  the  appointing  of  officers,  determining  the  policy  of  the 
committee,  adopting  rules  or  changing  them,  and  agreeing  upon  the  an 
nual  report  to  the  General  Assembly.  Beside  the  quarterly  meetings, 
there  shall  be  held  monthly  meetings,  excepting  in  those  months  in 
which  the  quarterly  meetings  occur,  at  the  Presbyterian  House  in  Phi 
ladelphia,  at  which  meetings  all  ordinary  executive  business,  not  reserved 
as  above,  may  be  transacted.  The  chairman  may  convene  the  committee 
at  any  other  time  by  causing  suitable  notice  to  be  given.  The  necessary 
travelling  expenses  of  the  ministerial  members  of  the  committee  shall  be 
paid  by  the  treasurer. 

"2.  A  secretary  and  a  treasurer  shall  be  chosen  annually,  by  nomina 
tion  and  ballot. 

"  3.  While  the  secretary  shall  be  careful  not  to  interfere  with  the  col 
lections  made  for  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  or  its  auxilia 
ries,  yet  it  is  understood  that  the  claims  of  the  committee  are  to  be  so 
presented  to  individuals  and  churches,  as  to  secure  adequate  funds  to 
carry  out  all  the  objects  designed  by  the  General  Assembly  in  its  appoint 
ment. 

11 4.  The  ordinary  mode  of  operation  of  the  committee  will  be  through 
the  Synods  or  Presbyteries  of  our  Church,  upon  the  following  plan :  Each 
Synod  or  Presbytery  which  thinks  proper  to  do  so,  may  appoint  a  Com 
mittee  on  Church  Extension,  where  such  a  committee  does  not  already 
exist,  composed  of  members  so  situated  that  they  can  readily  meet. 
When  cases  occur  such  as  come  within  the  range  of  our  appointment, 
the  Synodical  or  Presbyterial  Committee  will  recommend  the  field,  or 
church,  or  minister,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  in  general  co-operate  with 
this  committee  in  regard  to  this  class  of  domestic  missionary  operations. 
It  will  be  understood,  however,  in  cases  where  the  Synod  or  Presbytery 
has  not  acted,  that  churches  or  ministers  may  address  the  committee 
directly. 

li  5.  Synods  or  Presbyteries  co-operating  with  the  committee  will  cither 
send  to  it  all  their  funds  collected  for  the  class  of  cases  appropriate  to 
the  committee,  and  the  appointments  be  made  by  it;  or  they  may  raise 


CHURCH   ERECTION.  375 

their  own  funds  and  make  appointments  to  be  confirmed  by  this  com 
mittee,  and  pay  over  to  it  their  surplus. 

"  6.  Applications  should  always  be  specific.  They  should  state  such 
particulars  as  the  following  :  The  circumstances  which  make  the  case 
one  proper  for  the  action  of  this  committee,  and  not  for  that  of  the  Ame 
rican  Home  Missionary  Society;  the  extent  and  location  of  the  field; 
the  name  of  the  agent  or  missionary;  if  a  church  or  congregation,  its 
name  and  location;  the  number  of  communicants ;  the  average  number 
of  attendants  on  public  worship;  the  state  of  the  country  and  population, 
and  prospects  of  the  field ;  the  denominations  and  size  of  congregations 
immediately  contiguous;  the  total  amount  of  salary  which  they  can 
raise  for  the  given  time,  or  which  can  be  raised  in  the  Synod  or  Presby 
tery;  and  every  other  particular  calculated  to  throw  light  upon  the  case. 

"7.  All  co-operating  committees  will  make  an  annual  report  to  the 
committee,  and  all  agents  or  missionaries  receiving  from  it  the  whole  or 
a  part  of  their  support,  will  make  a  quarterly  report.  The  annual  re 
ports  shall  be  forwarded  in  time  to  be  received  by  the  second  Tuesday  of 
April  in  each  year,  and  the  quarterly  reports  by  the  second  Tuesdays  of 
July,  October,  and  January." 

SECTION  3. — COMMITTEE  ox  CHURCH  ERECTION. 

1.  Initiatory  measures. — 2.  The  committee  appointed;  its  number,  classification, 
and  duties. — 3.  The  church  erection  plan  of  the  Assembly. — 4.  The  charter 
accepted  by  the  Assembly.  The  fund  transferred  to  the  trustees.  The  Synods 
enjoined  to  appoint  committees  of  Church  extension. — 5.  The  fund  completed. 
— G.  The  trustees  authorized  to  require  church  edifices  to  be  kept  insured,  at 
their  discretion. — 7.  Rigid  adherence  to  the  plan  required.  Amendment  of  art. 
xiv,  sec.  3. — 8.  Appropriations  not  to  be  made,  when  there  is  no  organized  con 
gregation.  The  trustees  are  the  sole  custodians  of  the  fund.  The  Assembly 
refuse  to  alter  the  plan. — 9.  Act  of  incorporation  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Church 
Erection  Fund.— 10.  By-laws  of  the  trustees. — 11.  Rules  and  regulations  for 

*  the  use  of  applicants  for  aid  from  the  fund. 

1.  Initiatory  Measures. 

"Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  our  churches  to  strive  earnestly 
to  render  our  religious  institutions  permanent,  by  the  erection  of  church 
edifices  and  the  settlement  of  pastors,  whenever  this  can  be  done ;  and 
in  this  work  the  older  and  wealthier  churches  ought  to  co-operate  with 
the  younger  and  feebler/' — Minutes,  1850,  p.  315. 


376  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

2.    Committee  appointed  ;  its  Duties,  &c. 

[The  Committee  on  "  Church  Extension  "  reported,  reciting  certain 
statistical  facts,  and  recommending  the  following  action.  Adopted.] 

"Resolved,  1.  That  the  General  Assembly,  relying  on  the  assisting 
grace  of  God  and  the  hearty  co-operation  of  his  people,  will  undertake 
to  raise,  within  the  present  year,  the  sum  of  $100,000,  which  shall  con 
stitute  a  permanent  fund  to  aid  feeble  congregations  in  erecting  houses 
of  worship. 

"Resolved,  2.  That,  in  the  furtherance  of  this  object,  the  Assembly 
do  now  elect,  by  ballot,  and  annually  hereafter,  a  Church  Erection  Com 
mittee,  to  be  composed  of  ten  members,  one-half  of  whom  shall  be  min 
isters,  six  to  reside  in  or  near  the  city  of  New  York,  and  four  in  or  near 
the  city  of  Philadelphia, — including  the  stated  and  permanent  clerks 
and  the  treasurer  of  the  Assembly,  with  power  to  fill  their  own  vacan 
cies;  said  committee  to  employ,  at  their  discretion,'  a  corresponding 
secretary,  who  shall  be  paid  a  suitable  salary,  together  with  his  travelling 
expenses. 

"Resolved,  3.  This  Church  Erection  Committee  shall  meet  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  on  the  second  Wednesday  of  June  next,  and  thereafter, 
on  their  own  adjournment,  in  the  cities  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York 
alternately,  at  least  once  in  three  months,  their  necessary  travelling  ex 
penses  being  defrayed. 

"Resolved,  4.  The  General  Assembly  hereby  authorize  said  committee 
to  take  such  measures  as  to  them  may  seem  best  to  bring  the  claims  of 
this  great  object  before  our  churches,  so  as  to  secure  as  soon  as  possible 
the  fund  above  named ;  said  committee  to  be  authorized,  also,  to  renew 
the  appeal  annually  to  our  churches,  in  order  to  make  up  any  deficiency 
which  may  exist  in  the  first  simultaneous  subscriptions  to  complete  the 
fund,  or  which  may  arise  thereafter ;  it  being  the  purpose  of  the  Assem 
bly  to  raise  and  maintain  a  permanent  fund  of  $100,000,  for  the  pur 
poses  herein  specified. 

"  Resolved,  5.  The  General  Assembly  recommend  that  a  collection  or 
subscription  be  taken  in.  all  our  churches  in  behalf  of  this  object,  on  the 
second  Sabbath  of  November  next;  and  that  the  money  thus  raised  be 
forwarded  to  Anthony  P.  Halsey,  Esq.,  the  treasurer  of  the  General  As 
sembly,  or  to  his  successor  duly  appointed,  to  be  held  in  trust  for  the 
use,  and  subject  to  the  order,  of  the  above-named  committee. 

"Resolved,  6.  The  stated  clerks  of  the  several  Presbyteries  shall  con 
stitute  a  committee  of  correspondence  for  their  respective  Presbyteries, 


CHURCH   ERECTION.  377 


with  the  Church  Erection  Committee ;  communicating  all  needed  infor 
mation  in  respect  to  the  state  and  wants  of  their  churches;  and  the 
Church  Erection  Committee,  thus  informed,  shall  report  to  the  General 
Assembly,  from  year  to  year,  the  facts  as  they  exist  in  respect  to  the 
relative  wants  of  the  different  Synods,  and  also,  the  amount  and  condi 
tion  of  the  fund  under  their  direction,  and  their  opinion  of  the  proper 
apportionment  of  the  same ;  whereupon  the  Assembly  shall  determine 
the  amount  to  which  each  Synod  shall  be  entitled  for  the  year  next  en 
suing.  And  thus,  at  each  successive  Assembly,  the  committee  shall 
report  as  aforesaid ;  and,  further,  they  shall  report  a  full  statement  of 
all  moneys  loaned  or  donated  from  the  fund,  and  the  securities  taken 
therefor.  And  the  Assembly  shall  direct,  as  before,  the  distribution  of 
said  fund  among  the  Synods  in  our  connection. 

"  Resolved,  7.  Each  Synod,  through  its  Committee  on  Church  Exten 
sion,  of  which  the  stated  clerk  of  the  Synod  shall  be  ex-officio  secretary, 
shall  draw  on  the  Church  Erection  Committee  for  such  portion  of  the 
fund  as  has  been  allotted  to  it,  in  such  sums  as  it  shall,  from  time  to 
time,  loan  or  donate  to  particular  churches  within  its  bounds.  But  no 
draft  shall  be  made  by  any  Synod  for  any  portion  of  the  fund  allotted  to 
it,  until,  where  the  money  is  loaned,  each  particular  loan  shall  have  been 
definitely  agreed  upon,  and  sufficient  security  in  bond  and  mortgage  or 
personal  notes  shall  have  been  duly  executed  and  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  stated  clerk  of  said  Synod,  who  shall  with  his  draft  transmit  a  state 
ment  of  the  loan  thus  made  and  the  security  taken ;  nor  shall  any  draft 
be  made  until  such  accompanying  statement,  satisfactory  to  the  com 
mittee,  shall  have  been  received. 

"  Provided,  That  the  Church  Extension  Committee  of  each  Synod, 
when,  in  their  estimation,  the  circumstances  of  the  case  demand  it,  may 
also  donate  to  feeble  churches  within  their  bounds,  or  remit  on  previous 
loans,  such  sums  as  they  shall  judge  proper;  not  to  exceed,  however,  in 
the  aggregate,  a  sum  equal  to  one-fourth  part  of  the  amount  appor 
tioned  to  said  Synod  for  the  current  year.  And  the  Church  Erection 
Committee  shall  pay  the  drafts  for  such  donations  in  the  same  manner 
as  for  the  loans  above  authorized.  All  moneys  thus  donated  or  remitted 
to  be  secured  on  the  house,  in  case  of  a  change  in  the  ecclesiastical  rela 
tions  of  the  church  thus  aided. 

"Provided further,  That  all  churches,  to  whom  moneys  are  thus  do 
nated  or  remitted,  shall  take  an  annual  collection  in  behalf  of  the  Church 
Erection  Fund,  at  least  until  they  shall  have  thus  repaid  the  amount 


378  X. — THE   PERMANENT    COMMITTEES. 

\ 

which  was  granted  them.  No  interest  shall  ever  be  demanded  for  any 
moneys  loaned  to  congregations  from  this  fund,  until  by  the  terms  of 
the  loan  the  principal  has  become  due." — Minutes,  1853,  pp.  317,  318. 

3.    Church  Erection  Plan. 

"  The  Church  Erection  Committee,  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly 
of  1853,  after  a  full  consideration  of  the  trust  committed  to  them,  beg 
leave  to  report  the  following  plan  for  the  proper  control  and  manage 
ment  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  : 

"PREAMBLE.  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  now  holding  its  sessions  in  the  city  of  Phila 
delphia,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  having,  through  the  liberality  of 
the  congregations  connected  with  this  body,  established  a  fund  for  the 
purpose  of  aiding  feeble  congregations  in  erecting  houses  of  worship,  do 
hereby  adopt  the  following  plan,  under  which  this  fund  shall  be  held, 
administered,  and  used  : 

"  ART.  1.  This  fund  having  been  committed  to  the  General  Assembly 
as  a  special  trust,  no  part  of  it  as  now  established,  nor  any  additions 
which  may  hereafter  be  made  to  it,  shall  ever  be  used  for  any  other 
purpose,  than  that  of  aiding  feeble  congregations  in  connection  with  the 
General  Assembly  in  erecting  houses  of  worship ;  except  so  much  as 
may  be  absolutely  necessary  to  defray  the  expenses  incident  to  the 
administration  of  this  plan. 

"  ART.  2.  The  custody,  care,  and  management  of  this  fund,  and  of  all 
securities  of  every  kind  belonging  to  it,  or  growing  out  of  it,  together 
with  all  claims,  dues,  and  property  that  may  at  any  time  pertain  to  it, 
and  all  additions  that  may  hereafter  be  made  to  it  by  donations,  bequests, 
or  otherwise,  shall  be  committed  to  a  board  of  trustees,  to  be  called  '  The 
Trustees  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America/  The  board 
shall  consist  of  nine  members,  four  of  them  being  ministers  and  five  of 
them  elders,  in  connection  with  some  Presbytery  or  church  under  the 
care  of  the  General  Assembly,  who  shall  reside  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
or  its  immediate  vicinity,  and  whom  the  General  Assembly  shall  elect 
by  ballot,  on  a  nomination  to  be  made  at  least  one  day  before  such  elec 
tion.  The  trustees  shall  continue  in  office  until  the  election  and  induc 
tion  of  their  successors.  The  certificate  of  the  stated  clerk  of  the 
General  Assembly  shall  be  necessary,  to  entitle  a  trustee  to  take  his  seat 


CHURCH    ERECTION.  879 

as  a  member  of  the  board,  which  certificate  it  shall  be  his  duty  to  furnish 
as  soon  as  practicable  after  the  election. 

"  The  trustees  first  elected  shall  arrange  themselves  into  three  equal 
classes.  The  term  of  office  of  the  first  class  shall  expire  in  one  year 
from  their  election;  that  of  the  second  class  in  two  years;  and  that  of 
the  third  class  in  three  years.  After  the  first  election,  the  General 
Assembly  shall  annually  elect  three  trustees,  to  supply  the  place  of  the 
class  whose  term  is  about  to  expire,  to  hold  their  office  for  three  years, 
the  same  persons  always  being  re-eligible ;  and  each  General  Assembly 
shall  also  by  election  supply  any  vacancy  in  the  board,  caused  by  death, 
resignation,  or  otherwise.  If  any  trustee  shall,  during  the  term  for 
which  he  is  elected,  cease  to  be  connected  with  a  Presbytery  or  church 
under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly,  he  shall  thereby  cease  to  be  a 
member  of  the  board;  and  the  vacancy  shall  be  reported  to  the  next 
General  Assembly. 

"  ART.  3.  The  first  meeting  of  the  board  shall  be  held  on  the  second 
Tuesday  of  June  next,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  at  such  place  and  hour 
as  the  stated  clerk  of  the  General  Assembly  may  appoint,  who  shall 
preside  until  the  board  is  organized  by  the  choice  of  its  president. 

"ART.  4.  The  board  shall  make  their  own  by-laws.  They  shall 
annually,  at  their  first  meeting  after  the  adjournment  of  the  General 
Assembly,  elect  one  of  their  number  president  of  the  board ;  and  shall 
appoint  a  secretary,  and  a  treasurer  who  shall  give  security  to  the  board 
for  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duties.  They  shall  keep  complete 
books  of  record  and  account,  in  which  shall  be  recorded  all  their  pro 
ceedings,  and  the  true  state  at  all  times  of  all  matters  relating  to  this 
fund ;  which  records  and  accounts,  or  any  part  of  them,  shall  at  all  times 
be  open  to  the  inspection  of  any  committee  appointed  by  the  General 
Assembly  for  this  purpose.  They  shall  also  keep  full  and  correct  copies 
and  files  of  all  the  correspondence  which  may  be  conducted  or  received 
by  them,  or  in  their  name;  and  shall  annually  present  to  the  General 
Assembly,  not  later  than  the  third  day  of  its  sessions,  a  full  written 
report  of  their  proceedings  and  of  the  state  of  the  fund,  together  with 
any  suggestions  or  recommendations  which  they  may  deem  necessary  or 
suitable.  The  General  Assembly  shall  annually  appoint  a  committee  of 
three  of  its  members,  to  audit  the  accounts  and  to  examine  the  securities 
of  the  board,  and  report  at  the  next  General  Assembly. 

"  ART.  5.  The  board  are  hereby  directed,  either  by  procuring  a  special 
act  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  or  in  accordance  with  the 


380 


X. — THE   PERMANENT    COMMITTEES. 


existing  statutes  of  said  State,  to  incorporate  themselves,  and  their  suc 
cessors  in  office,  always  to  be  elected  as  aforesaid,  into  a  body  corporate 
and  politic,  invested  with  all  such  legal  powers,  as  may  be  necessary  to 
enable  them  to  hold  and  administer  this  fund,  in  conformity  with  the 
provisions  of  this  plan. 

"  ART.  6.  The  board  are  directed,  as  far  as  practicable,  to  keep  at 
interest,  on  sufficient  security,  payable  on  call  or  short  notice,  any  portion 
of  the  fund  that  may  not  be  appropriated  by  the  General  Assembly;  or, 
if  appropriated,  may  not  be  in  use  in  the  Synods. 

"  ART.  7.  The  board  shall  prepare  blank  forms  of  all  such  legal  and 
other  papers  as  may  be  required  in  the  proper  distribution  and  manage 
ment  of  the  fund ;  and  they  shall  furnish  a  sufficient  quantity  of  such 
forms  to  the  Committee  on  Church  Extension  of  each  Synod ;  the  forms 
so  prepared  and  furnished,  and  none  others,  shall  be  used  in  all  matters 
and  transactions  relating  to  the  fund,  to  which  they  may  be  applicable. 
They  shall  designate  such  legal  advisers  within  the  bounds  of  each 
Synod,  as  by  a  correspondence  with  the  Church  Extension  Committees 
of  the  Synods  may  be  found  desirable,  to  examine  all  certificates  of  title, 
and  all  conveyances  and  other  documents  connected  with  the  loan  or 
donation  of  any  part  of  this  fund,  including  a  careful  investigation  in 
regard  to  the  legal  incorporation  of  the  boards  of  trustees  of  the  congre 
gations  concerned;  and  they  shall  further  have  power  to  appoint  an 
agent  in  each  Synod,  and  to  require  that  all  payments  of  money  that 
may  become  due  to  this  fund  shall  be  made  to  such  agent. 

"ART.  8.  The  fund  thus  established  is,  in  the  first  instance,  hereby 
appropriated  to  be  used  within  the  bounds  of  the  respective  Synods,  in 
the  following  proportions : 


per  ct. 


Synod 

of  Albany, 

2.5  per  ct. 

"  Synod  of  Ohio, 

3  r 

u 

Cincinnati, 

3 

"         Pennsylvania, 

3 

u 

Genesee, 

3           " 

"          Peoria, 

7 

" 

Geneva, 

3 

"          Snsquehanna, 

3 

u 

Illinois, 

6           " 

"         Tennessee, 

4 

« 

Indiana, 

5           » 

"         Utica, 

2.5 

« 

Iowa, 

5 

"         Virginia, 

3.5 

" 

Kentucky, 

2.5       " 

"         Wabash, 

5 

" 

Michigan, 

8 

"          Western  Reserve, 

5 

a 

Mississippi, 

2.5        " 

"          West  Pennsylvania, 

3 

" 

Missouri, 

2.5        " 

"          West  Tennessee, 

3 

(i 

New  York    and 

New  Jersey, 

15           " 

CHURCH   ERECTION.  381 

"ART.  9.  Each  General  Assembly  shall  determine  the  proportion  to 
be  appropriated  within  the  bounds  of  the  respective  Synods,  of  any  part 
of  the  fund  that  the  board  may  have  received  since  the  meeting  of  the 
preceding  General  Assembly,  by  the  payment  of  loans,  gifts,  legacies, 
or  otherwise;  and  every  such  appropriation,  without  reference  to  any 
previous  one,  shall  be  made  by  the  General  Assembly  in  view  of  the 
relative  wants  and  necessities  of  the  Synods  at  the  time. 

"  ART.  10.  If  any  Synod  shall  deem  it  inexpedient  to  aid  their  feeble 
churches  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  this  plan ;  or  shall  fail  to 
elect  a  Committee  on  Church  Extension,  to  act  in  conjunction  with  the 
board,  as  herein  provided ;  or  shall  notify  the  board  that  any  portion  of 
the  amount  hereby  appropriated  to  be  used  within  their  bounds,  or  of 
any  amount  that  may  be  hereafter  so  appropriated,  is  not  needed ;  then, 
in  each  of  these  cases,  the  General  Assembly  may,  at  their  discretion, 
appropriate  the  portion  of  the  fund,  or  any  surplus  amount,  assigned  to 
such  Synod,  to  other  Synods  in  the  same  manner  as  is  provided  for  in 
the  preceding  article. 

"ART.  11.  In  order  to  be  entitled  to  the  use  of  any  portion  of  the 
fund,  each  Synod  connected  with  the  General  Assembly  shall  annually 
elect  a  Committee  on  Church  Extension,  consisting  of  at  least  five  mem 
bers.  The  stated  clerk  of  the  Synod  shall,  immediately  after  the  election 
of  said  committee,  transmit  to  the  president  or  secretary  of  the  board 
his  certificate  of  such  election,  giving  the  name  and  residence  of  each 
member. 

"  ART.  12.  All  applications  for  aid  from  the  fund  shall  be  made,  in 
the  first  instance,  to  the  Committee  on  Church  Extension  of  the  Synod 
to  which  the  applicants  belong,  or  within  whose  bounds  they  are  situated. 
Every  such  application  shall  be  in  writing,  and  shall  particularly  state : 
the  location  of  the  house  or  site  for  its  erection ;  the  number  of  families 
or  persons  attached  to  the  congregation,  or  that  propose  to  unite  in  build 
ing  a  house  of  worship;  the  description  of  the  house  which  they  propose 
to  build,  with  its  estimated  and  probable  cost,  or  the  description  and  cost 
of  the  house  and  lot  owned  by  the  congregation ;  the  amount  of  reliable 
subscriptions  which  have  been  obtained,  and  how  much  has  been  paid 
thereon  ;  the  amount  of  available  means  possessed  by  the  congregation, 
if  any ;  whether  the  congregation  is  in  debt;  and  if  so,  to  what  amount, 
and  when  the  same  becomes  due ;  and  also  any  other  facts  which  may 
aid  the  committee  of  the  Synod  in  judging  of  the  application.  This 
application  shall  be  accompanied  by  the  certificate  of  one  of  the  legal 


382  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

advisers  of  the  board,  that  the  title  to  the  lot  on  which  the  house  is  built 
or  to  be  built  is  vested  in  said  congregation,  and  is  free  from  all  legal 
incumbrance  and  liability. 

"  ART.  13.  If  the  committee  of  the  Synod,  to  whom  application  for 
aid  has  been  made  as  above  provided,  shall,  after  a  careful  examination 
into  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  congregation  so  applying,  be 
satisfied  that  such  congregation  have  done  all  that  should  reasonably  be 
expected  of  them,  and  that,  with  the  aid  which  can  be  aiforded  from 
this  fund,  they  can  build  or  possess  a  house  of  worship  adapted  to  their 
wants,  and  be  free  from  other  indebtedness  than  that  to  this  fund;  then 
the  committee  shall  sign  a  certificate  addressed  to  the  board,  stating  the 
application,  and  that  they  have  examined  and  approve  of  it;  and  also 
stating  the  amount  which  it  is  proper  to  loan  or  donate  to  the  congrega 
tion.  This  certificate,  together  with  a  copy  of  the  application  made  to 
the  committee  of  the  Synod,  shall  be  transmitted  to  the  board.  On  the 
receipt  of  this  certificate  and  application,  the  board  shall,  as  soon  as 
practicable,  if  the  application  is  in  due  form,  forward  the  necessary 
papers,  to  be  executed  by  the  trustees  of  the  congregation,  and  to  be 
approved  by  their  legal  adviser,  or  some  other  attorney  proposed  by  the 
congregation  and  accepted  by  the  board.  When  the  papers,  so  executed, 
approved,  and  properly  recorded,  are  returned  to  the  board,  they  shall 
authorize  the  treasurer  of  the  trustees  of  the  congregation,  or  any  other 
person  duly  appointed  by  them  for  this  purpose,  to  draw  on  the  treasurer 
of  the  board  for  the  amount  thus  provided  for  and  secured. 

"ART.  14.  The  Board  shall  not  in  any  case  loan  or  donate  any  por 
tion  of  the  fund  to  any  congregation,  unless  such  congregation  own,  in 
fee  simple  and  free  from  all  legal  incumbrance,  the  lot  on  which  their 
house  of  worship  is  situated,  or  on  which  they  propose  to  build ;  nor  shall 
any  loan  or  donation  be  made  for  the  payment  of  any  debt,  except  that 
which  may  have  been  contracted  within  one  year  previous,  in  erecting  a 
house  of  worship. 

"The  amount  loaned  to  any  congregation  shall  never  be  more  than 
one-third  of  the  amount  contributed  for  the  house  and  lot,  nor  exceed 
the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars ;  nor  shall  the  amount  given  to  any 
congregation  as  a  donation  be  in  any  case  more  than  two  hundred  dol 
lars,  or  exceed  one-fourth  of  the  amount  contributed  for  their  house  and 
lot;  nor  shall  a  loan  and  a  donation  be  made  to  the  same  congregation. 
The  donations  within  the  boundaries  of  any  Synod  shall  never  be  more 
than  one-fourth  of  the  amount  appropriated  to  that  Synod. 


CHURCH    ERECTION.  383 

"  All  loans  shall  be  made  on  the  following  conditions : 

"  1.  The  principal  shall  be  paid  in  four  equal  annual  instalments,  the 
first  instalment  becoming  due  in  three  years  from  the  date  of  the  loan. 

"2.  If  all  the  instalments  are  punctually  paid,  no  interest  will  be  re 
quired  on  any  part  of  the  loan. 

U3.  In  default  of  the  payment  of  any  instalment,  interest  shall  be 
required  on  the  whole  loan  unpaid,  from  the  time  of  such  default,  until 
such  instalment,  with  all  the  interest  that  may  thus  accrue,  shall  be 
paid.* 

"  The  conditions  of  all  donations  from  this  fund  shall  be,  that,  in  case 
the  church  or  con  cremation  shall  cease  to  be  connected  with  the  General 

O        G 

Assembly,  or  their  corporate  existence  shall  cease,  or  their  house  of  wor 
ship  be  alienated,  except  for  the  building  or  purchase  of  a  better  house 
of  worship,  they  shall  refund  to  the  Board  the  amount  which  they  have 
so  received,  with  interest  from  the  time  of  receiving  it;  and  further, 
that  every  congregation  receiving  a  donation  shall  annually  make  a  col 
lection  in  aid  of  the  fund,  transmitting  the  same  to  the  treasurer,  until 
the  amount  so  collected  and  paid  over  shall  equal  the  sum  received  as  a 
donation. 

"  The  fulfilment  of  the  above  conditions,  in  respect  to  both  loans  and 
donations,  shall  in  all  cases  be  secured  by  the  bond  of  the  trustees  of 
the  congregation,  and  a  mortgage  on  their  house  and  lot,  made  in  favor 
of  the  Board ;  which  bond  and  mortgage,  duly  executed  and  recorded, 
shall  always  be  placed  in  the  possession  of  the  Board,  before  any  money 
is  paid  over  to  the  congregation. 

"ART.  15.  The  Board  shall  not  make  a  loan  or  donation  to  any  con 
gregation,  until  the  full  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  shall  have 
been  actually  paid  to  the  treasurer  of  the  General  Assembly.  When 
this  amount  has  been  received,  the  treasurer  of  the  General  Assembly 
is  hereby  directed  to  pay  over  the  whole  amount  to  the  treasurer  of  this 
fund,  upon  the  written  order  of  the  Board,  signed  by  its  President  and 
Secretary. 

"  ART.  16.  In  accepting  this  trust  and  adopting  this  plan,  the  General 
Assembly  hereby  declares,  that  the  first  article  shall  admit  of  no  altera 
tion  or  amendment ;  and  that  no  change  shall  be  made  in  any  other  part 


*  "  And  in  case  any  church  or  congregation  receiving  a  loan  shall  afterwards 
withdraw  from  the  General  Assembly,  the  whole  amount  unpaid  shall  at  once 
become  due.'' — Amendment,  Minutes,  185S,  p.  580. 


384  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

of  the  plan  by  any  future  General  Assembly,  except  by  an  affirmative 
vote  of  two-thirds  of  all  the  members  whose  names  have  been  entered 
upon  the  roll. 

"  The  following  resolutions  were  also  adopted  : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  this  General  Assembly  express  its  full  approba 
tion  of  the  action  of  the  last  Assembly,  for  raising  the  sum  of  one  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars,  as  a  permanent  fund  for  church  erection. 

"Resolved,  2.  That  efficient  measures  should  now  be  taken  to  make 
up  the  deficiency  of  this  fund,  in  the  shortest  time  practicable, — say, 
by  the  first  day  of  October  next. 

"Resolved,  3.  That  the  trustees,  who  are  to  be  appointed  to  take 
charge  of  this  whole  business,  be  instructed  to  make  an  early  and  earnest 
appeal  to  those  churches — more  than  one-half  of  our  whole  number — 
who  have  contributed  nothing  to  this  fund,  asking  their  co-operation  in 
this  labor  of  love;  that  they  solicit  additional  assistance  from  those  who 
have  afforded  but  slender  aid ;  and  that  they  state  our  remaining  wants 
to  those  whose  liberality  has  already  abounded/' — Minutes,  1854,  pp. 
493-498. 

4.  Approval  of  the  Charter,  &c. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  the  trustees  of 
the  Church  Erection  Fund,  having  had  the  matters  therein  contained 
under  consideration,  present  the  following  report : 

"1.  THE  CHARTER. 

"  The  trustees  having,  according  to  the  direction  of  the  last  General 
Assembly,  obtained  from  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  an 
act  of  incorporation,  and  having  accepted  the  same,  which  act  they  have 
reported  to  this  General  Assembly;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  this  General  Assembly  approve  said  act  of  incorpo 
ration,  and  the  acceptance  thereof  by  the  trustees. 

"2.  ELECTION  or  TRUSTEES. 

"  The  term  of  service  of  the  following  trustees,  Walter  S.  Griffith, 
William  E.  Dodge,  and  Oliver  H.  Lee,  having  expired,  the  committee 
nominate  them  as  suitable  persons  for  re-election  for  three  years,  accord 
ing  to  the  provisions  of  the  plan  for  the  management  and  distribution 


CHURCH   ERECTION.  .  385 

of  the  Fund;  and  recommend  that  the  election  be  held  on  Friday  morn 
ing,  immediately  after  the  opening  of  the  Assembly. 

"3.  TRANSFER  OF  THE  FUND,  1855. 

"  At  the  close  of  the  last  General  Assembly,  the  Board  not  being  in 
corporated,  or  even  organized,  the  amount  of  the  fund  then  collected 
was  properly  left  in  the  custody  of  the  treasurer  of  the  Assembly ;  but 
the  Board  now  being  fully  organized,  and  having  a  legal  existence,  it 
appears  to  the  committee  desirable  and  proper  that  the  custody  of  the 
fund,  as  far  as  completed,  should  be  committed  to  those  who  are  respon 
sible  for  its  future  management,  and  they  therefore  recommend  the 
adoption  of  the  following  resolution  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  closing  sentence  of  the  15th  article  of  the  Plan 
for  Distribution  be  altered  to  read  as  follows :  '  The  treasurer  of  the 
General  Assembly  is  hereby  directed  to  transfer  the  moneys  and  securi 
ties  belonging  to  the  Church  Erection  Fund,  in  his  hands,  to  the  treasurer 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  General  Assembly's  Church  Erection 
Fund,  upon  the  written  order  of  the  Board,  signed  by  its  president  and 
secretary/ 

"4.  THANKS  TO  THE  TREASURER. 

"Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  General  Assembly  are  hereby  ten 
dered  to  Anthony  P.  Halsey,  Esq.,  its  treasurer,  for  the  accommodating, 
patient,  and  faithful  attention  that  he  has  bestowed  on  the  reception  and 
the  management  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund,  while  it  has  been  in  his 
hands;  and  that  the  stated  clerk  communicate  this  resolution  to  Mr. 
Halsey. 

"  5.  AUDITING  COMMITTEE. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Auditing  Committee  appointed  by  the  last  Gene 
ral  Assembly  be  reappointed  for  the  coming  year. 

"6.  CHANGE  OF  THE  PLAN. 

"  In  reply  to  the  memorial  of  the  Presbytery  of  Kalamazoo,  request 
ing  a  change  in  the  conditions  of  the  12th  and  14th  sections  of  the 
Plan  of  Distribution,  the  committee  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  fol 
lowing  resolution : 

"Resolved,  That,  upon  a  careful  examination,  it  will  be  found  that 

25 


386  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

the  Plan  contains  no  conditions  or  requirements  not  necessary  to  the 
permanence  and  perpetuity  of  the  fund ;  and  that  essentially  to  modify 
or  change  the  conditions  of  distribution  would  jeopard  its  perpetuity. 

"7.  PREMATURE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  FUND. 

"In  reply  to  the  suggestion  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ithaca,  that  the  dis 
tribution  of  the  fund  should  be  commenced  before  the  amount  originally 
contemplated  is  paid  in,  the  committee  recommend  the  adoption  of  the 
following  resolution  : 

"Resolved,  That  good  faith  towards  many  of  the  contributors  to  the 
fund,  and  a  becoming  regard  to  consistency  on  the  part  of  the  Assembly 
in  its  reiterated  declaration  of  its  purposes  and  pledges  on  this  subject, 
alike  forbid  any  distribution  till  the  whole  sum  is  completed. 

"S.  INJUNCTION  TO  THE  SYNODS. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Synods  be  enjoined  to  give  particular  attention 
to  Article  11  of  the  Plan  of  Distribution,  requiring  the  appointment  of 
Committees  of  Church  Extension,  and  the  transmission  of  the  names 
and  residences  of  the  members  to  the  board  of  trustees." — Minutes, 
1855,  pp.  23,  24. 

5.  The  Fund  completed. 

"  The  Trustees  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  made  their  annual  report, 
which  was  read  and  accepted. 

"Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  will  now  proceed  to  provide 
for  the  deficit  reported  in  the  Church  Erection  Fund,  by  the  personal 
pledges  of  individuals  present,  to  the  amount  of  that  deficit. 

"  In  accordance  with  the  above  resolution,  the  Assembly  received 
pledges  from  several  individuals,  members  and  others,  to  the  full  amount 
of  $2900  ;  and  the  fund  of  8100,000  for  church  erection  was  thus  com 
pleted."— Minutes,  1856,  p.  190. 

6.  Trustees  authorized  to  require  the  Churches  mortgaged  to  le  kept 

Insured. 

"  To  render  the  security  for  loans  in  all  cases  satisfactory,  the  trustees 
are  hereby  authorized  to  require  that  the  churches  on  which  they  take 
mortgages  shall  be  kept  insured,  whenever  they  may  deem  this  precau 
tion  necessary." — Minutes,  1857,  p.  386. 


CHURCH    ERECTION.  387 

7.  Riyid  Adherence  to  the  Plan  required.      Section  3,  Article  14, 

amended. 

"Resolved,  1.  That  while  we  regard  the  whole  course  of  the  trustees, 
during  the  past  year,  as  worthy  of  our  approval,  we  especially  approve, 
in  their  disbursement  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund,  their  rigid  adhe 
rence  to  that  portion  of  the  Assembly's  plan  which  restricts  the  board 
from  loaning  or  donating  any  portion  of  the  fund  to  any  congregation, 
unless  such  congregation  own  in  fee  simple  and  free  from  incumbrance 
the  lot  on  which  their  house  of  worship  is  already,  or  is  to  be,  erected. 
And  we  would  recommend  a  rigid  adherence  to  this  feature  of  the  plan 
for  the  future,  regarding  such  a  course  as  especially  adapted  to  secure 
an  increasing  confidence  in  the  Assembly's  plan,  and  increasing  dona 
tions  from  its  friends. 

"Resolved,  2.  That  the  following  words  be  added  to  the  first  para 
graph  in  section  third  of  the  fourteenth  article  of  the  Plan,  namely : 
t  And  in  case  any  church  or  congregation  receiving  a  loan  shall  after 
wards  withdraw  from  the  General  Assembly,  the  whole  amount  unpaid 
shall  at  once  become  due.' ;; — Minutes,  1858,  p.  585. 

8.  Appropriations  cannot  be  made  where  there  is  no  Church  organiza 
tion.      The  Trustees  are  the  sole  Custodians  of  the  Fund. 

u  The  second  special  report  of  the  trustees  relates  to  a  proposal,  that 
the  trustees  should  appoint  agents  for  the  collection  of  money  to  assist 
churches,  in  certain  cases,  beyond  the  amount  allowed  by  the  existing 
regulations  of  the  Fund ;  and  also  to  a  proposal,  that  these  regulations 
should  be  so  altered  as  to  permit  appropriations  to  communities,  in 
special  circumstances,  where  no  church  had  been  organized.  The  terms 
of  the  charter  forbid  a  compliance  with  the  last;  and  the  repeated  and 
widely-published  statements,  while  the  Church  Erection  Fund  was  in 
the  process  of  collection,  that  the  scheme  was  to  check,  if  not  arrest, 
appeals  for  help  in  building  houses  of  worship,  dissuade  us  from  acced 
ing  to  the  first. 

"  Various  overtures  have  been  referred  to  this  committee.  The  Pres 
bytery  of  Iowa  City  prays,  that  the  trustees  of  the  Church  Erection 
Fund  may  appoint  agents  for  the  collection  of  funds  in  the  cases  de 
scribed  in  the  second  special  report ;  and  the  Presbyteries  of  Iowa  City, 
Keokuk,  and  Knox,  pray  that  a  day  may  be  appointed  for  a  general 


388  X. — THE   PERMANENT  COMMITTEES. 

collection,  to  assist  churches  beyond  the  amount  allowed  by  the  existing 
regulations  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund.  The  committee  recommend 
the  answer  given  to  these  petitions,  in  form  or  substance,  in  the  second 
special  report  of  the  trustees. 

"The  Presbytery  of  Iowa  City  renews  the  prayer,  that  grants  may  be 
allowed,  in  some  extraordinary  cases,  where  no  church  has  been  yet 
constituted ;  to  which  the  committee  recommend  the  reply  in  the  second 
special  report  of  the  trustees. 

"The  Presbyteries  of  Winona,  Iowa  City,  and  Knox,  pray  that  the 
portions  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  allotted  to  the  different  Synods, 
may  be  paid  over  to  the  Synodical  Committees  for  distribution  at  their 
discretion.  And  the  Presbytery  of  Kansas  prays  that  $3000  may  be 
paid  over  to  it,  to  be  distributed  at  its  discretion ;  or,  if  this  be  declined, 
that  the  money  be  remitted  to  the  Synod  to  which  that  Presbytery  may 
be  attached,  for  distribution  at  the  discretion  of  the  Synodical  Com 
mittee. 

"  The  charter  constitutes  the  trustees  the  sole  custodians  and  managers 
of  the  Church  Erection  Fund ;  and  the  committee  recommend  this  as 
the  answer  to  these  petitions  of  the  Presbyteries. 

"  The  Synod  of  Iowa  pray  that  the  trustees  of  the  Church  Erection 
Fund  may  be  clothed  with  discretionary  power  to  grant  to  congregations 
in  cities  and  large  towns  loans  as  large,  if  necessary,  as  $1000 ;  and 
donations  as  largo,  if  necessary,  as  $400. 

"While  it  has  seemed,  to  a  majority  of  the  committee,  desirable,  in 
itself  considered,  that  appropriations  of  the  amount  now  named  should 
be  allowable  in  certain  extraordinary  cases,  there  are  too  many  con 
siderations  presenting  the  proposed  alteration  as  of  questionable  expe 
diency,  and  too  many  brethren  whose  experience  and  observation  of  the 
workings  of  the  scheme  entitle  their  judgment  to  respect,  clear  and 
decided  in  their  convictions  against  it,  to  justify  our  venturing  upon  it 
at  the  present  time ;  and  the  committee  cordially  agree  in  recommending 
that  the  existing  rates  of  grants  be  adhered  to,  until  a  further  trial  shall 
make  it  more  obvious,  whether  they  should  be  retained  or  changed,  and 
secure  greater  unanimity  in  regard  to  them. 

"  The  trustees  of  the  Synod  of  Iowa  pray  that  8100,  with  interest 
from  1855,  transmitted,  as  they  state,  by  mistake,  to  the  Church  Erec 
tion  Fund  of  the  General  Assembly,  should  be  returned  to  them.  It 
appears,  however,  from  the  records  of  the  Synod  of  Iowa,  that  that  body 
sanctioned  the  act  of  the  chairman  of  its  Church  Erection  Committee 


CHURCH   ERECTION.  389 

in  transmitting  the  said  $100  to  the  trustees  of  the  Assembly's  fund,  in 
payment  of  the  assessment  made  upon  its  churches  for  the  purposes  of 
this  fund';  and  the  committee  therefore  recommend  that  the  trustees  of 
the  Synod  of  Iowa  be  referred  to  the  Synod  of  Iowa,  and  to  the  churches 
under  its  care  for  the  sum  they  ask  of  the  Assembly." — Minutes,  1859, 
pp.  26,  27. 

9.  An  Act  to  Incorporate  the  Trustees  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  passed  March  31,  1855. 

11  The  people  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate  and 
Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows  : 

"  1.  Samuel  T.  Spear,  Asa  D.  Smith,  Edwin  F.  Hatfield,  James  W. 
McLane,  Walter  S.  Griffith,  Oliver  II.  Lee,  Norman  White,  William  E. 
Dodge,  and  Stephen  H.  Thayer  (designated  for  the  purpose  by  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which  met  in  Phila 
delphia,  in  May,  1854),  and  their  successors  in  office,  are  hereby  con 
stituted  a  body  corporate  and  politic,  by  the  name  of  '  The  Trustees  of 
the  Church  Erection  Fund  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  iu  the  United  States  of  America/  for  the  purpose  of  aiding 
feeble  congregations  in  connection  with  the  said  General  Assembly  in 
erecting  houses  of  worship,  and  by  that  name,  they  and  their  successors 
shall  and  may  have  perpetual  succession.  Provided,  that  no  money 
shall  be  furnished  by  said  corporation  for  the  erection  of  any  house  of 
worship  in  any  State  or  Territory,  in  which  there  shall  exist  at  the  time 
a  law  for  the  incorporation  of  religious  societies,  the  title  to  which  is  not 
held  by  a  religious  corporation  under  and  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
respective  States  or  Territories  in  which  such  places  of  worship  are 
located.  Provided  also,  that  the  title  shall  in  no  instance  be  vested  in 
any  priest,  bishop,  or  other  ecclesiastic. 

"  2.  The  said  corporation  shall  possess  the  general  powers,  and  be 
subject  to  the  provisions,  contained  in  title  3  of  chapter  18  of  the  first 
part  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  so  far  as  the  same  are  applicable  and  have 
not  been  repealed  or  modified. 

"  3.  The  management  and  disposition  of  the  affairs  and  funds  of  said 
corporation  shall  be  vested  in  the  individuals  named  in  the  first  section 
of  this  act,  and  their  successors  in  office,  who  shall  remain  in  office  for 
such  period,  and  be  displaced  and  succeeded  by  others,  to  be  elected  at 


390  X. — THE   PERMANENT    COMMITTEES. 

such  time  and  in  such  manner  as  the  said  General  Assembly  shall  direct 
and  appoint ;  and  such  election  shall  be  made,  and  the  said  fund  shall 
be  held  and  administered,  invested  and  disposed  of,  for  the  purposes 
aforesaid,  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  plan  adopted  by  the 
said  General  Assembly. 

"4.  The  said  corporation  shall  in  law  be  capable  of  taking,  receiving 
and  holding  any  real  or  personal  estate,  which  has  been  or  may  hereafter 
be  given,  devised,  or  bequeathed  to  them  for  the  purposes  of  their  in 
corporation,  or  which  shall  accrue  from  the  use  of  said  fund ;  but  the 
said  corporation  shall  not  take  and  hold  real  and  personal  estate  above 
the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

"  5.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK, 

Secretary's  Office. 

I  have  compared  the  preceding  with  the  original  law  on  file  in  this 
office,  and  I  do  hereby  certify  that  the  same  is  a  correct  trans- 
[L.  s.]  cript  therefrom,  and  of  the  whole  of  such  original. 

Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  of  office,  at  the  city  of  Albany, 
this  second  day  of  April,  1855. 

A.  G.  JOHNSON, 
Deputy  Secretary  of  State. 

10.  By-Laws  adopted  ~by  the  Trustees  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  May,  1855. 

"I.  Five  members  of  the  Board  shall  constitute  a  quorum. 

"  II.  The  Board  shall  meet  annually  on  the  third  Wednesday  of  June, 
when,  if  a  quorum  is  present,  they  shall  proceed  to  elect  from  their 
number  a  president  and  a  vice-president.  They  shall  also  appoint  a 
secretary  and  treasurer.  The  Board  shall  also  meet  on  the  third  Wednes 
day  of  September,  December,  and  March.  Special  meetings  of  the  Board 
may  be  called  by  the  president,  or,  in  his  absence  or  inability  to  act,  by 
the  vice-president,  or  by  the  secretary,  at  the  written  request  of  three 
members  of  the  Board.  If  no  quorum  shall  be  present  at  the  time  fixed 
for  the  annual  or  other  regular  meeting  of  the  Board,  the  members 
present  shall  adjourn  from  time  to  time  until  a  quorum  shall  be  present. 

"  III.  The  Board,  at  its  annual  meeting,  shall  appoint  three  standing 
committees,  viz. : 


CHURCH    ERECTION.  391 

"  1st.  A  Committee  of  Finance,  who  shall  take  the  oversight  and 
direction  of  all  the  financial  affairs  of  the  Board,  and  direct  the  treasurer 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  No  money  shall  be  paid  out  or  invested 
by  the  treasurer  without  the  written  authority  of  the  Finance  Committee. 
The  Finance  Committee  shall  not  authorize  any  loan  or  donation  to  be 
made  to  any  congregation  until  they  have  before  them  the  certificate  of 
the  Committee  on  Applications,  as  hereinafter  provided  for. 

"2d.  A  Committee  on  Applications,  to  whom  shall  be  referred  all 
applications  for  loans  or  donations  from  the  Fund,  with  the  securities 
offered  and  the  vouchers  and  correspondence  accompanying  the  same. 
It  shall  be  their  duty  to  certify  in  writing  to  the  Finance  Committee, 
that  they  have  carefully  examined  the  same,  and  that  the  applications 
and  securities  are  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Plan  of  the  Assem 
bly.  ,  It  shall  also  be  the  duty  of  the  committee  to  recommend  to  the 
Board  such  persons  as  legal  advisers  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synods  as, 
after  correspondence  with  the  Church  Extension  Committees  of  the 
Synods,  they  shall  approve,  to  make  the  examinations  of  title  provided 
for  in  Art.  8  of  the  Plan ;  and  generally  to  secure  a  strict  compliance 
with  the  Plan  of  the  Assembly  and  the  Charter  of  the  Board,  with 
respect  to  loans  and  donations  from  the  Fund.  And 

"3d.  A  Committee  on  Correspondence,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  take 
the  oversight  and  direction  of  all  the  correspondence  of  the  Board, 
except  that  pertaining  to  the  duties  of  the  other  standing  committees, 
and  to  supervise  the  reports  and  all  communications  to  the  General 
Assembly  or  other  religious  or  public  bodies. 

"  IV.  The  standing  committees  shall  be  subject  to  the  direction  of 
the  Board ;  they  shall  each  keep  a  book  of  minutes,  in  which  all  their 
proceedings  shall  be  recorded,  which  shall  be  laid  before  the  Board  at 
each  meeting. 

"V.  The  Board,  at  their  regular  meeting  in  March  of  each  year, 
shall  fix  the  amount  of  salaries  to  be  paid  the  secretary  and  treasurer, 
and  the  sums  so  fixed  shall  not  be  changed  during  the  year  next  ensuing. 

"  VI.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  treasurer  to  take  the  custody  of  the 
funds  and  securities  belonging  to  the  Board,  and  to  hold,  invest,  and  pay 
over  the  same,  as  he  shall  be  directed  from  time  to  time  by  the  Board  or 
by  the  Finance  Committee.  He  shall  keep  complete  books  of  account 
of  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  Fund,  and  shall  furnish  to  the  Board  at 
each  regular  meeting,  and  at  any  other  time  when  directed  by  the  Board 
or  by  the  Finance  Committee  to  do  so,  a  full  and  methodical  statement 


392  X. — THE  PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

in  writing  of  the  amount  of  the  Fund;  the  amount  not  in  use  in  the 
Synods,  how  invested,  on  what  security,  and  at  what  rate  of  interest  ; 
the  amount  in  use  in  each  Synod,  by  what  congregations  and  when  due; 
the  amount  loaned  or  donated  since  the  last  previous  meeting  of  the 
Board ;  in  what  Synods  and  to  what  congregations.  He  shall  have  the 
custody  of  the  corporate  seal,  and  shall  keep  all  the  books,  securities, 
and  valuable  papers,  belonging  to  the  Board,  in  a  fireproof  safe,  to  be 
provided  by  them  for  the  purpose.  He  shall  be  subject  at  all  times  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties  to  the  direction  of  the  Board  or  of  the 
Finance  Committee,  and  shall  hold  his  office  during  the  pleasure  of  the 
Board. 

"  VII.  No  money  belonging  to  this  Fund  shall  be  drawn,  except  upon 
the  check  of  the  treasurer,  countersigned  by  the  chairman  of  the  Fi 
nance  Committee. 

"VIII.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  secretary  to  keep  the  minutes  of  the 
Board  and  of  all  the  standing  committees,  to  correspond  in  the  name  of 
the  Board  as  he  shall  be  directed  to  do  by  the  Board  or  by  the  standing 
or  special  committees,  and  to  attend  to  such  other  duties  as  the  Board 
shall  prescribe.  He  shall  hold  his  office  during  the  pleasure  of  the 
Board. 

"  IX.  All  reports  made  to  the  Board  by  any  of  its  committees  or  offi 
cers  shall  be  in  writing,  and,  unless  otherwise  ordered,  shall  be  entered 
at  length  on  the  minutes. 

"X.  At  all  meetings  of  the  Board,  the  following  order  shall  be  ob 
served  : 

"1.  Prayer. 

"  2.  Reading  the  minutes  of  the  last  meeting. 

"3.  Report  of  the  treasurer. 

"  4.  Reports  of  the  standing  committees. 

"  5.  Reports  of  special  committees. 

"  6.  Unfinished  business. 

"  7.  New  business. 

"  8.  Concluding  prayer. 

"  XI.  In  case  of  the  absence  of  the  president  and  vice-president,  the 
Board  shall  elect  a  president  pro  tern. 

"  XII.   The  Board  at  any  meeting  may  fill  any  vacancy  that  shall 
occur  in  the  officers  or  standing  committees  of  the  Board  ;  provided, 
that  notice  of  such  vacancy  shall  be  given  when  the  meeting  is  called. 
"  XIII.  All  elections  shall  be  by  ballot. 


CHURCH    ERECTION.  393 

"XIV.  These  by-laws  shall  not  be  changed,  except  by  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  all  the  members  of  the  Board.  Previous  notice  of  any  proposed 
change  shall  be  given  in  writing  to  each  member  of  the  Board." 

11.  Rules  and  Regulations  for  the  Use  of  Applicants  for  Aid  from  the 
Church  Erection  Fund}  as  required  by  the  Assembly's  Plan. 

"  1.  All  applications  for  aid  must  first  be  made  to  the  Synodical  Com 
mittee  on  Church  Extension. 

"  2.  All  such  applications  must  be  made  in  the  forms  prepared  by  the 
trustees  of  the  Fund,  and  placed  by  them  in  the  hands  of  the  chairman 
of  the  Synodical  Committee. 

"  3.  The  Synodical  Committee  will  designate  to  applicants  for  aid  what 
lawyer  they  shall  employ  to  fill  up  and  sign  the  certificate  on  the  last 
page  of  the  form  used  in  making  the  application. 

"4.  The  expense  incurred  in  obtaining  this  certificate  must  be  borne 
by  the  applicants. 

"  5.  The  congregation  applying  for  aid  must  own  in  fee  simple,  and 
free  from  all  legal  incumbrance,  the  lot  on  which  their  house  stands,  or 
on  which  it  is  to  be  erected. 

u  6.  Each  congregation,  in  order  to  be  aided  from  this  Fund,  must  be 
free  from  all  other  indebtedness  than  that  to  this  Fund. 

l(  1 .  Each  congregation  must  first  do  what  they  can  to  erect  a  house 
of  worship,  before  applying  for  help. 

"8.  As  the  amount  apportioned  by  the  General  Assembly  to  each 
Synod  is  not  large,  and  as  it  is  desirable  to  aid  as  many  feeble  congrega 
tions  as  possible,  all  applicants  should  keep  this  fact  in  view  in  fixing 
the  amount  asked  for 

"9.  No  congregation  can  receive  more  than  one-third  of  the  amount 
actually  paid  by  them  for  their  house  and  lot. 

"  10.  No  loan  or  donation  can  be  made  for  the  payment  of  any  debt, 
except  that  which  may  have  been  contracted  in  erecting  their  house,  and 
within  one  year  previous  to  the  time  of  making  their  application. 

"  11.  No  donation  can  be  made  to  any  congregation  of  more  than  two 
hundred  dollars ;  nor  can  it  in  any  case  exceed  one-fourth  of  the  amount 
actually  paid  by  them  for  their  house  and  lot. 

"  12.  A  loan  and  donation  can  not  be  made  to  the  same  cono-rc^ation." 


394  X. — THE    PERMANENT    COMMITTEES. 


SECTION  4. — THE  PUBLICATION  COMMITTEE. 

1.  Preliminary  history. — 2.  The  "Doctrinal  Tract"  Committee  appointed.  Lo 
cated  at  Philadelphia.  Its  duties  and  powers.  Unanimous  consent  required 
before  any  book  or  tract  is  published.  Empowered  to  fill  its  own  vacancies. — 
3.  The  committee  enlarged  to  eleven.  Rule  requiring  unanimous  consent 
changed  to  three-fourths. — 4.  The  committee  further  enlarged  to  fifteen,  nine  of 
whom  to  reside  at  or  near  Philadelphia.  Five  a  quorum.  The  consent  of  a 
majority  required  to  the  publication  of  anything  issued  by  the  committee.  The 
committee  divided  into  three  classes  of  five  each.  Names. — 5.  Name  changed 
to  "  Publication  Committee.'' — 6.  Negotiations  respecting  the  Church  Psalmist. 
The  committee  are  authorized  to  apply  for,  and  accept,  an  act  of  incorpora 
tion. — 7.  The  committee  authorized  to  issue  works  of  a  general  evangelical 
character,  in  addition  to  strictly  doctrinal  works.  The  trustees  of  the  House 
authorized  and  directed  to  act  as  trustees  of  the  Publication  Committee.  The 
Psalmist  recommended.  An  appendix  to  be  added. — S.  Churches  permitted  to 
receive  the  publications  of  the  committee  to  the  amount  of  half  their  collections. 
9.  A  working  capital  of  twenty  five  thousand  dollars  urged.  The  committee 
authorized  to  employ  an  agent. — 10.  Presbyterial  depositories  recommended. 

1.  Preliminary  Action. 

[In  1846,  an  overture  on  the  subject  of  "Doctrinal  Tracts"  was  re 
ferred  to  a  committee  of  two  from  each  Synod,  Rev.  H.  A.  Rowland 
chairman.  Minutes,  1846,  p.  11.  "The  Rev.  H.  A.  Rowland,  from 
the  Committee  on  'Doctrinal  Tracts/  presented  a  report,  which  was  ac 
cepted  and  put  on  the  docket."  Ib.  p.  19.  Subsequently,  "the  whole 
subject  was  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  William  Pat- 
ton,  D.D.,  T.  H.  Skinner,  D.D.,  E.  F.  Hatfield,  and  H.  A.  Rowland, 
to  act  in  the  premises,  and  report  at  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  in 
Cincinnati."  Ib.  p.  38.  The  committee  made  a  report,  which  was  re 
ferred  to  a  new  committee,  Messrs.  Hatfield,  Cox,  Mason,  Stowe,  and 
Parker,  with  instructions  to  report  to  the  next  Assembly.  Minutes,  1847, 
p.  145.  This  committee  seem  to  have  made  no  report.  In  1850,  on  an 
overture,  the  subject  was  referred  to  a  select  committee,  consisting  of 
Rev.  J.  C.  Stiles,  D.D.,  J.  B.  Townsend,  J.  Holmes  Agnew,  and  F.  A. 
Ross,  with  Elders  Abner  Bryant  and  George  Kellogg,  to  report  to  the 
next  Assembly.  Minutes,  1850,  p.  309.  No  further  action  appears 
until  1852,  when  "  the  Assembly  proceeded  to  consider  the  third  section 
of  the  report  on  Church  extension/'  viz  ,  in  relation  to  doctrinal  tracts. 
The  report  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. :] — Minutes,  1852,  p.  175. 


THE    PUBLICATION    COMMITTEE.  395 

2.    The  Committee  appointed ;  its  Powers  and  Duties. 

a.  "  To  promote  the  diffusion  of  those  truths  which  distinguish  us  as 
a  Church,  the  General  Assembly  adopts  the  following  arrangement : 

"  1.  There  is  hereby  established  at  Philadelphia  a  standing  committee 
of  nine  persons,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  superintend  the  publication  of 
a  series  of  tracts  explanatory  of  the  doctrines,  government,  and  mission 
ary  policy  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as  the  General  Assembly  shall 
from  time  to  time  direct.  One-third  of  this  committee  shall  serve  for 
one  year,  one-third  for  two  years,  and  the  remaining  third  for  three  years. 
The  election,  to  fill  the  places  of  those  whose  terms  expire,  to  be  held  at 
each  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly. 

"  2.  This  committee  shall  elect  a  secretary  and  treasurer,  the  former 
of  whom  shall  receive  such  a  salary  per  annum,  as  shall  be  agreed  upon 
by  the  committee ;  and  shall  be  the  editor  of  the  tracts  published  ;  and 
also,  as  far  as  may  be  necessary,  the  soliciting  agent  for  such  an  amount 
of  funds  as  may  be  required  to  carry  out  the  objects  for  which  this  com 
mittee  is  appointed. 

"3.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  committee  to  meet  at  Philadelphia, 
and,  after  due  organization,  to  take  measures  to  procure  the  preparation 
and  publication,  in  cheap,  neat,  and  substantial  form,  of  a  series  of 
Tracts  for  the  purposes  above  stated.  No  tract  io  be  published,  which 
does  not  receive  the  unanimous  approbation  of  the  committee. 

U4.  This  committee  shall,  if  consistent  with  the  interests  of  the 
Assembly,  enter  into  a  contract  with  some  publisher  or  publishers  to 
assume,  for  a  time,  the  publication  of  such  tracts  as  may  be  furnished 
them,  at  certain  rates,  which  shall  be  agreed  upon  in  writing.  And  if 
no  such  arrangement  can  be  profitably  and  satisfactorily  made,  then  the 
said  committee  shall,  by  solicitation  from  the  churches,  proceed  to  pro 
vide  a  sufficient  fund  for  their  publication  in  behalf  of  the  Assembly. 

"  5.  This  committee  shall  make  a  full  report  of  its  proceedings  to  the 
General  Assembly,  at  each  annual  meeting. 

"  The  following  persons  were  appointed  the  committee  to  superintend 
the  preparation  and  publication  of  doctrinal  tracts,  viz.  :  Rev.  Thomas 
Brainerd,  D.D.,  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  and  Mr.  S.  T.  Bodine,  for  one  year; 
Rev.  E.  W.  Gilbert,  D.D.,  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Skinner,  D.D.,  and  Rev. 
George  Duffield,  Jr.,  for  two  years;  Rev.  Asa  D.  Smith,  D.D.,  Rev. 
Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  D.D.,  and  Hon.  William  Darling,  for  three  years. 


396  X. — THE  PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  committee  have  power  to  fill  their  own  vacan 
cies/' — Minutes,  1852,  p.  176. 

b.  "  In  regard  to  the  publication  of  the  annual  reports,  we  would 
state,  that  each  permanent  committee  now  publishes  and  circulates,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  its  own  report,  and  bears  the  expense;  that  our 
religious  weeklies  insert  synopses  of  them  free  of  charge ;  and  that  the 
only  satisfactory  change,  at  present  practicable  or  desirable,  seems  to  be, 
that  the  several  committees,  each  bearing  its  own  expense  as  now,  intrust 
the  printing  of  their  reports  to  the  Publication  Committee;  and  that  the 
latter  print  them  in  uniform  style,  with  their  own  imprimatur.  The 
reports  will  then  be  in  shape,  both  for  easy  circulation,  and  also  for 
binding  and  preservation.  This  change  in  the  publication  of  the  annual 
reports  of  our  permanent  committees  we  recommend." — Minutes,  1859, 
p.  37. 

3.    Committee  enlarged.     Rule  modified  so  as  to  require  the  assent  of 
three-fourths  to  the  Publication  of  any  Book  or  Tract. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  the  Standing 
Committee  for  the  preparation  and  publication  of  doctrinal  tracts,  re 
ported  the  following  resolutions,  which  were  adopted : 

"  1.  That  the  Rev.  Thomas  Brainerd,  D.D.,  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  and 
Mr.  Samuel  T.  Bodine,  whose  term  of  service  on  the  committee  has 
expired,  be  re-elected. 

"  2.  That  the  Rev.  George  Chandler  and  Samuel  H.  Perkins,  Esq., 
of  Philadelphia,  be  added  to  the  committee. 

"8.  That  the  rule  requiring  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  committee 
for  the  publication  of  any  book  or  tract,  be  so  modified,  that  a  majority 
of  three-fourths  only  shall  be  required. 

"  4.  That  the  committee  be  authorized  to  take  such  measures  as  they 
may  deem  advisable,  to  secure  the  necessary  funds  for  the  erection  of  a 
house  of  publication. 

"  5.  That  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  all  our  churches  to  take  up 
collections,  annually  or  otherwise,  in  aid  of  the  publishing  fund  under 
the  control  of  this  committee. 

"  6.  That  we  suggest  to  the  Publication  Committee  the  desirableness 
of  issuing,  as  soon  as  practicable,  a  few  tracts  which  shall  clearly  and 
distinctly  exhibit  our  peculiar  views  of  doctrine,  government,  and  mis 
sionary  policy,  with  a  view  to  answer  the  calumnies  against  us,  and  show 


THE   PUBLICATION    COMMITTEE.  397 

our  true  position  in  the  Church  and  in  the  world." — Minutes,  1853,  p. 
330. 

4.    Committee  enlarged.    Quorum.    Nothing  to  be  Published  without  the 
Assent  of  a  Majority  of  the  Committee. 

a.  "The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  on  doctrinal 
tracts,  and  also  the  overture  from  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  4th, 
on  the  subject  of  a  Presbyterian  publication  house,  report,  that  they 
concur  cordially  in  the  expressions  of  the  report  on  the  subject  of  the 
press,  and  its  great  importance  as  an  organ  of  usefulness ;  also,  on  the 
desirableness  of  a  religious  literature  suitable  to  the  wants  of  our  de 
nomination  ;  and  congratulate  the  Assembly  on  the  prospect  that  this 
want  will  be  supplied  by  the  future  efficiency  of  this  committee. 

a  Your  committee,  moreover,  fully  concur  in  the  views  of  the  report, 
as  to  the  inexpediency  of  ourselves  entering  upon  the  business  of  print 
ing,  and  the  superior  advantages  of  doing  the  work  by  the  agency  of 
existing  printing  establishments. 

"  Your  committee  further  recommend,  that  the  Publication  Committee 
be  enlarged  to  the  number  of  fifteen,  nine  of  whom  shall  reside  in  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  or  vicinity ;  that  of  this  number,  five  shall  consti 
tute  a  quorum  for  ordinary  business,  whose  sittings  shall  be  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia ;  but  nothing  shall  be  authorized  for  publication,  issued, 
or  endorsed  by  said  committee,  except  by  a  majority  of  its  members. 
All  publications  to  issue  simultaneously  in  the  two  cities  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  with  the  imprimatur  of  the  committee.  Adopted." — 
Minutes,  1854,  p.  508. 

Committee  divided  into  Three  Classes,  one  Class  to  go  out  of  Office 

Yea  rli/. 

b.  "  The  members  of  the  Publication  Committee,  whose  term  of  office 
expires  at  this  time,  are  the   Rev.   Thomas   H.   Skinner  and  George 
Duffield,  Jr.      In   addition  to  these,   the   committee    recommend   the 
appointment  of  thirteen  others ;  and  that  this  committee  arrange  them 
selves  at  their  first  meeting  into  three  classes,  five  going  out  of  office 
yearly.     Adopted." — Minutes,  1854,  p.  508. 

c.  "  The  committee  to  nominate  members  of  the  Doctrinal  Tract  Com 
mittee  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted. 


398  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

"Publication  Committee:  Rev.  A.  Barnes,  Rev.  N.  S.  S.  Beman,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  Rev.  Wm.  Eagleton,  D.D.,  Rev.  Thos.  Braincrd,  D.D.,  Rev. 
Asa  D.  Smith,  D.D.,  Rev.  S.  H.  Gridley,  Rev.  A.  H.  H.  Boyd,  D.D., 
Rev.  S.  T.  Spear,  D.D.,  Rev.  Geo.  Duffield,  Jr.,  Rev.  H.  Darling,  Rev. 
J.  Jenkins,  and  Messrs.  S.  H.  Perkins,  S.  T.  Bocline,  C.  S.  Wurts, 
and  E.  S.  Whelen."— Minutes,  1854,  p.  510. 

5.  Name  changed  to  "  The  Presbyterian  Publication  Committee." 

"Resolved,  That  the  name  of  the  Doctrinal  Tract  Committee  of  the 
General  Assembly,  be  changed  to  •'  The  Presbyterian  Publication  Com 
mittee.'  "—Minutes,  1855,  p.  13. 

6.    The  Church  Psalmist  to  le  secured  for  the  Assembly. 

a.  ll  The  Assembly  took  from  the  docket  the  report  of  the  Committee 
on  Church  Psalmody,  and  the  following  substitute  was  adopted : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  the  Publication  Committee  confer  with  the  pro 
prietors  of  the  Church  Psalmist,  and  secure,  if  possible,  the  transfer,  on 
reasonable  terms,  of  the  copyright  of  said  book  to  the  General  Assembly, 
and  that  the  committee  have  full  powers  to  close  arrangements  binding 
on  the  Assembly. 

"Resolved,  2.  That,  in  case  of  failure,  said  committee  report  to  the 
next  General  Assembly,  and  at  the  same  time  recommend  to  that  body 
the  course  which  they  deem  it  most  advisable  to  pursue  in  the  premises." 
— Minutes,  1855,  p.  32. 

The  Committee  authorized  to  negotiate  for  the  Church  Psalmist ;  also, 
to  apply  for  an  Act  of  Incorporation. 

b.  u  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  annual  reports  of  the 
Publication  Committee,  and  of  'the  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  House/ 
respectfully  report : 

"  That  they  recommend  the  approval  of  these  reports  and  the  course 
of  action  which  has  been  pursued  by  these  bodies  the  past  year.  Your 
committee  believe  that  there  is  an  important  field  to  be  occupied  by  the 
Publication  Committee,  without  interference  with  the  societies  whose 
object  is  to  supply  a  more  general  evangelical  literature.  It  is  neces 
sary,  also,  that  the  committee  should  have  a  house  in  which  their  ope- 


THE   PUBLICATION   COMMITTEE.  399 

rations  may  be  carried  on,  and  which  may  be  used  for  other  purposes 
connected  with  our  Church. 

"It  appears  from  the  reports,  that  three  objects  are  now  particularly 
engaging  the  attention  of  the  Publication  Committee  and  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  viz.  :  the  necessary  arrangements  for  a  uniform  psalm  and 
hymn  book  for  the  whole  Church;  the  endowment  of  the  committee 
with  a  suitable  capital  for  carrying  on  its  operations ;  and  the  raising  of 
funds  to  complete  the  payment  for  the  Presbyterian  House,  agreeably  to 
the  plan  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  in  1854.  These  objects 
strike  your  committee  as  reasonable  and  important,  and,  in  view  of  the 
whole  case,  they  recommend  the  following  resolutions,  viz.  : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  the  reports  of  the  Presbyterian  Publication  Com 
mittee,  and  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  House,  be  ap 
proved,  and  that  extracts  from  the  same  be  published  in  the  Appendix  to 
the  Minutes  of  the  Assembly,  at  the  discretion  of  the  stated  clerk. 

"2.  That  in  view  of  the  wants  of  these  institutions;  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  uniformity  in  Church  psalmody;  of  endowing  the  Publica 
tion  Committee,  and  paying  the  balance  of  the  sum  required  for  the 
purchase  of  the  Presbyterian  House,  agreeably  to  the  plan  agreed  upon 
by  the  General  Assembly  of  1354;  it  be  and  hereby  is  recommended  to 
all  the  churches  under  our  care,  to  take  up  a  simultaneous  collection  on 
the  first  Sabbath  of  December  next;  and  that  an  effort  be  made  at  that 
time  to  raise  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  for  these  objects;  one- 
half  of  which  is  to  be  appropriated  to  the  Publication  Committee,  for 
the  two  objects  first  mentioned,  and  the  other  one-half  to  the  trustees  of 
the  Presbyterian  House,  for  the  last  object  mentioned ;  and  that,  in 
case  less  than  the  sum  mentioned  be  raised  by  said  collection,  it  be 
equally  divided  between  the  two  bodies  for  the  respective  purposes  men 
tioned. 

"3.  In  order  to  preserve  uniformity  in  Church  psalmody,  that  the 
Publication  Committee  be  authorized  to  negotiate  with  the  compilers 
and  publishers  of  the  Church  Psalmist,  and  to  purchase  that  book,  if 
this  can  be  done  on  reasonable  terms ;  but,  if  such  terms  cannot  be  ob 
tained,  then  that  they  be  instructed  to  inquire  whether  a  new  book  of 
psalms  and  hymns  may  not  be  compiled,  which  shall  meet  all  our  wants, 
and  to  report  to  the  next  General  Assembly. 

"4.  That  the  Publication  Committee  is  hereby  authorized  to  apply  to 
the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  to  obtain  a  charter  to  enable  them 
more  perfectly  to  carry  on  their  operations,  and  to  accept  the  same  when 
granted. 


400  X. — THE   PERMANENT    COMMITTEES. 

"  5.  That  the  following  persons,  whose  term  of  office  in  the  Publica 
tion  Committee  now  expires,  ara  hereby  re-elected  for  three  years,  viz.  : 
Rev.  S.  H.  Gridley,  D.D.,  Rev.  A.  H.  H.  Boyd,  D.D.,  Rev.  Samuel  T. 
Spear,  D.D.,  Rev.  George  Duffield,  Jr.,  Rev.  Henry  Darling. 

"  Adopted/'— Minutes,  1856,  pp.  214,215. 

7.    The  Press  to  be  employed.       Works  of  a  general  Evangelical 
Character  to  be  published. 

a.  "Resolved,  That  the  power  of  the  press,  in  promoting  true  piety 
and  a  wide-spread  intelligence  among  our  population,  is  an  instrumen 
tality  appointed  of  God,  and  now  put  into  our  hands,  to  be  employed  for 
the  advancement  of  the  general  interests  of  religion,  and  for  the  pros 
perity  of  our  own  denomination. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Publication  Committee  be  encouraged  to  publish 
not  only  such  works  as  may  present  the  peculiarities  of  our  branch  of  the 
Christian  Church  in  doctrine  and  practice,  but,  from  time  to  time,  such 
works  of  an  evangelical  character  as  may  be  profitable  to  the  Church  at 
large."— Minutes,  1857,  p.  410. 

The  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  House  authorized  and  directed  to  act 
as  Trustees  of  the  Publication  Committee. 

b.  "  Resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America,  that  '  The  Trustees  of  the  Presbyte 
rian  House'  be,  and  they  hereby  are,  authorized   and  directed  to  act,  in 
their  corporate  capacity  as  trustees  of  the  Permanent  Committee  of  this 
Assembly,  called  'The  Presbyterian  Publication  Committee/  as  fully, 
and  in  the  same  manner,  as  if  'The  Presbyterian  Publication  Committee' 
were  themselves  constituted  a  corporation  by  the  same  authority  which 
incorporated  'The  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  House/ — Ibid.  p.  410. 

Church  Psalmist  commended.      An  Appendix  to  be  added.     A  Book 
of  Tunes  to  be  prepared. 

"Resolved,  That  we  recognize,  with  gratitude  to  God,  the  completion 
of  the  labors  of  the  Publication  Committee,  by  which  the  Assembly  is 
furnished  with  a  book  of  psalmody  which  they  can  call  their  own,  the 
profits  of  which  will  materially  aid  the  funds  of  the  Church  in  the  pub- 


THE    PUBLICATION   COMMITTEE.  401 

lication  cause ;  and  the  Assembly  hereby  recommend  to  the  pastors  and 
the  churches  that  they  use  all  reasonable  diligence  in  promoting  uni 
formity,  by  the  introduction  of  this  book. 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  by  the  Publica 
tion  Committee,  to  prepare  a  book  of  tunes,  adapted  to  the  Church 
Psalmist,  and  that  this  committee  be  instructed  to  consult  and  corre 
spond  with  pastors  and  leaders  of  choirs  in  the  churches,  as  to  the  par 
ticular  tunes  most  in  use  and  most  popular  in  the  congregations;  and 
that  this  committee  report  to  the  next  General  Assembly. 

"Resolved,  That  the  preparation  of  an  appendix  to  the  Church 
Psalmist,  of  such  hymns  as  may  be  necessary  to  make  the  work  com 
plete,  be  committed  to  N.  S.  S.  Beman,  D.D.,  Kev.  Albert  Barnes,  and 
S.  W.  Fisher,  D.D.,  and  that  this  committee  report  to  the  next  General 
Assembly." — Ibid.  411. 

"Resolved,  That  the  committee  appointed  by  the  last  General  Assem 
bly  to  prepare  an  arrangement  of  the  Book  of  Psalms  for  chanting,  a 
specimen  of  which  is  presented  with  their  report,  be  directed,  in  the 
completion  of  their  work,  for  the  sake  of  bringing  the  book  into  as  small 
compass  as  possible,  to  leave  out  the  titles  of  the  psalms,  and  all  com 
ments  upon  the  text,  and  only  arrange  the  words  to  the  music  ;  and  in 
publishing  the  work,  the  copy  of  an  English  print,  accompanying  the 
report,  is  commended  as  a  model." — Ibid.,  pp.  410,  411. 

Adjustment  of  Claims  of  the  Publisher  of  the  Parish  Psalmody. 

d.  "Resolved,  That,  as  the  publisher  of  the  'Parish  Psalmody/  in  a 
memorial  made  to  the  Assembly,  seems  to  suppose  that  he  has  some 
pecuniary  claim  upon  the  Assembly,  though  the  Permanent  Committee 
of  Publication,  to  whom  this  subject  has  been  referred,  have  decided 
that  there  is  no  just  claim,  yet,  as  a  Christian  method  of  answering  the 
memorial  and  settling  the  question  in  dispute,  the  whole  subject  be 
referred  to  a  committee,  to  report  to  the  next  General  Assembly  in 
respect  to  this  claim ;  of  which  committee  one  shall  be  appointed  by 
said  publisher,  one  by  the  Permanent  Committee  of  Publication,  and  the 
third  by  these  two. 

"Resolved,  That  the  treasurer's  accounts  of  the  Publication  Com 
mittee,  and  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  House,  which 
have  been  presented  duly  audited,  be  approved." — Ibid.,  p.  411. 

2G 


402  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

Collections  enjoined.     Sermon. 

e.  u  Resolved,  That  it  be  enjoined  upon  all  our  churches  to  make  an 
annual  collection  for  the  Publication  cause,  in  the  month  of  October. 

"Resolved,  That  an  annual  sermon  be  preached  before  the  General 
Assembly,  on  the  subject  of  Publication,  and  that  for  the  next  year  Rev. 
Albert  Barnes  be  the  preacher,  arid  Rev.  Henry  J3.  Smith,  D.D.,  be  the 
alternate." — Ibid.,  p.  411. 

8.   Churches  permitted  to  receive  Publications  to  the  amount  of  one-half 
their  Collections. 

"  Resolved,  That  all  churches  making  this  annual  collection  be  per 
mitted,  if  they  so  elect,  to  order  for  their  own  use  any  publications  of 
the  committee  to  the  amount  of  one-half  their  respective  collections." — 
Minutes,  1859,  p.  39. 

9.  Report  of  the  Standing  Committee;  a  Working  Capital  recom 
mended ;  authorized  to  employ  an  Agent. 

"  The  Standing  Committee  of  Publication  respectfully  report : 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  satisfaction  to  notice,  from  year  to  year,  the  indica 
tion  of  advance,  slow  but  sure,  in  this  important  department  of  the 
Church's  activity. 

"  The  Presbyterian  Publication  Committee,  in  their  report  (which, 
with  the  treasurer's  account  and  vouchers,  has  been  carefully  considered 
by  us),  furnish  evidence  that  they  have  been  faithful  stewards  of  the 
very  limited  resources  placed  at  their  control. 

"  They  have  added  to  their  list  of  publications  a  number  of  tracts  and 
volumes  which  promise  to  be  useful ;  among  which  is  the  long-needed 
Tune  Book,  literally,  as  it  is  named,  '  Eclectic'  of  the  melodies  widely 
familiar  in  our  congregations.  This,  with  the  admirable  Church  Psalm 
ist,  will  contribute  to  promote  a  uniformity  in  the  service  of  song  of  our 
beloved  Zion.  These  new  publications,  as  their  report  remarks,  must 
'  add  moral,  as  well  as  material  strength'  to  the  Publication  cause. 

"  The  sales  of  the  year  furnish  a  grateful  indication  of  the  growth  of 
this  scheme.  The  amount,  for  a  period  of  eleven  months  included  in 
the  report,  exceeds  815,000,  being  an  advance  of  60  per  cent,  over  that 
of  last  year,  and  of  200  per  cent,  over  that  of  the  year  previous. 

"  The  donations,  likewise,  are  represented  under  the  respectable  figure 


THE   PUBLICATION    COMMITTEE.  403 

of  $8095  81 ;  though  an  abatement  from  the  satisfaction  of  this  item 
must  be  had,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  is  mainly  the  result  of  a  special 
appeal  to  the  churches  of  Philadelphia,  which  have  before  done  so  much 
for  the  cause ;  and,  consequently,  it  does  not  express  the  interest  felt  by 
the  body  at  large. 

"  The  present  capital  of  the  Publication  Committee  may,  perhaps,  be 
estimated  as  high  as  $15,000;  which,  considering  the  newness  of  the 
scheme,  and  the  difficulties  under  which  it  has  been  prosecuted,  is  cer 
tainly  honorable  to  the  energy  and  management  of  the  brethren  who 
have  had  it  in  hand,  if  not  particularly  creditable  to  the  liberality  of  the 
denomination  at  large. 

"  But,  while  we  recognize  this  advance,  we  must  not  ignore  the  fact 
that  the  publication  enterprise  is  yet  in  its  infancy  and  weakness,  and 
needs  the  fostering  help  of  the  churches. 

u  The  Publication  Committee,  in  discharging  the  trust  laid  upon  them, 
painfully  realize  the  need  of  resources  greatly  beyond  what  have  yet 
been  supplied  them.  Indeed,  in  order  to  sustain  the  scheme,  to  keep  it 
alive  by  meeting  the  demands  of  its  natural  growth,  the  brethren  who 
compose  that  committee  are  compelled  to  lie  under  a  heavy  personal 
pecuniary  responsibility,  to  which(they  ought  not  for  one  day  to  be  sub 
jected. 

"  The  only  relief  for  this  weakness  and  inconvenience  is  the  formation 
of  a  working  capital,  in  some  measure  proportioned  to  the  aims  of  the 
General  Assemblies  which  have  established  and  continued  the  Publica 
tion  Committee.  And,  until  individuals  of  wealth  may  be  inclined 
adequately  to  endow  this  enterprise,  we  must  look  to  the  annual  and 
continued  collections  from  our  churches  to  raise  it  gradually  to  a  position 
of  ability,  in  which  it  may  wield  the  power  for  good  that  was  contem 
plated  in  its  organization. 

"This  committee  therefore  recommend:  1.  That  the  Publication 
Committee  be  endowed  with  a  working  capital  of  not  less  than  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars ;  2.  That  the  General  Assembly  earnestly  request 
all  their  churches  to  make  a  special  contribution  for  this  object  in  the 
month  of  October  next;  and  3.  That  the  Publication  Committee  be 
authorized,  in  their  discretion,  to  employ  an  agent  for  the  furtherance 
of  this  design. 

"  It  appears  from  the  report  before  us,  that  less  than  one-half  the 
number  of  our  churches  have  done  anything  for  the  publication  cause ; 
a  fact  which  plainly  and  painfully  suggests  the  want  of  instruction  on 


404  X. — THE  PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

the  relations  of  this  cause  to  our  denominational  interests,  as  well  as  the 
promotion  of  sound  doctrine  and  godliness  among  the  people.  The  com 
mittee  would  therefore  recommend,  4.  That  the  Assembly  earnestly 
request  the  pastors  to  preach  to  their  congregations  on  this  subject,  in 
connection  with  the  call  for  a  contribution  in  October.  .  .  . 

"  The  General  Assembly  last  year  ordered  that  churches  making  col 
lections  for  the  publication  cause  should  be  allowed  to  receive  one-half 
the  amount  of  their  contributions  in  publications  of  the  committee. 
This  provision  it  is  thought  desirable  should  be  renewed  and  brought  to 
the  attention  of  the  churches."  .  .  . 

10.  Prcsbyterial  Depositories  recommended. 

"The  suggestion  is  an  important  one,  that  in  Synods  or  Presbyteries 
a  small  amount  of  capital  might  be  invested  in  the  committee's  publica 
tions  ;  and  these  put  into  the  hands  of  some  suitable  person,  in  a  central 
position,  for  sale.  The  receipts  from  sales,  being  reinvested  from  time 
to  time,  a  perpetual  stock  would  be  maintained. 

"The  report  was  adopted."— Minutes,  1860,  pp.  246-248. 


SECTION  6. — TRUSTEES  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  HOUSE. 

1.  Preliminary  action  and  acceptance  of  the  House  conditionally  authorized.  Legal 
Position  of  the  Assembly. — 2.  The  trustees. — 3.  The  charter.  The  Board  of  Trust 
enlarged  to  ten, — five  ministers  and  five  laymen.  Duties  and  powers  of  the 
trustees. — 4.  The  charter. — 5.  The  trustees  under  the  charter. — 6.  The  legal 
title  secured. 

1.  Preliminary  Action. 

[The  first  action  of  the  General  Assembly  on  the  subject  of  a  publica 
tion  house,  appears  in  the  minutes  for  1853,  under  date  Monday,  May 
30.  A  committee  having  been  appointed  to  consider  the  report  of  the 
Standing  Committee  for  the  Preparation  and  Publication  of  Doctrinal 
Tracts  (now  the  Presbyterian  Publication  Committee),  report,  inter  alia, 
as  follows,  and  their  report  was  adopted  :] 

"  4.  That  the  committee  [the  Doctrinal  Tract  Committee]  be  author 
ized  to  take  such  measures  as  they  may  deem  advisable,  to  secure  the 
necessary  funds  for  the  erection  of  a  house  of  publication/7 — Minutes, 
1853,  p.  330. 


TRUSTEES  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  HOUSE.  405 

[Under  date  Monday,  May  22,  1854,  the  Committee  of  Bills  and 
Overtures  report :] 

"  Overture  No.  2.  On  a  Presbyterian  Publication  House.  The  com 
mittee  recommend  the  acceptance  of  the  overture,  and  its  reference  to 
a  special  committee,  to  report  to  this  Assembly/7  Adopted. 

[Same  date  :]  "  The  Assembly  voted  to  hear  statements  from  John 
A.  Brown,  Esq.,  of  this  city  [Philadelphia],  in  reference  to  the  Presby 
terian  Publication  House,  when  the  thanks  of  the  Assembly  were  ten 
dered  to  Mr.  Brown  for  the  information  imparted." 

[Same  date  :]  "  The  unfinished  business  of  the  morning, — the  con 
sideration  of  the  report  of  the  Standing  Committee  on  the  Publication 
of  Doctrinal  Tracts, — was  resumed ;  when  it  was 

"Resolved,  That  the  report  just  read  be  referred  to  a  select  com 
mittee  of  nine,  with  directions  to  consider  the  whole  subject  of  the 
publication  of  books  and  tracts  by  authority  of  the  General  Assembly, 
and  also  Overture  No.  2,  upon  the  Presbyterian  Publication  House." 

[Under  date  Friday,  May  26  :]  "  The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of 
the  Church,  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  on  the  subject  of  the  legal 
powers,  claims,  and  liabilities  of  the  General  Assembly,  submitted  the 
following  report : 

"1.  Whereas,  we  regard  the  rights  of  this  body  as  complete  under 
the  charter  of  1799,  therefore  no  action  is  required  in  respect  to  a  new 
charter. 

"2.  [Relates  td  the  Trustees  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund.] 
"  3.  It  is  recommended  that,  provided  this  General  Assembly  appoint 
a  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Publication  House,  or  for  any 
other  specific  purpose,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  that  that  board  obtain 
a  special  act  of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  this  State ;  and  that  a 
committee  of  three  members  of  the  legal  profession  be  appointed,  to 
whom  the  subject  shall  be  committed,  with  instructions  to  examine  and 
determine  the  question,  whether  a  general  provision  in  said  charter  or 
act  of  incorporation,  like  that  provided  for  in  the  preceding  article,  will, 
in  respect  to  all  the  interests  of  the  Church,  be  safe  and  expedient;  and 
if  they  so  judge,  to  secure  its  insertion. 

"  The  report  was  adopted,  and  Messrs.  Samuel  H.  Perkins,  Henry  J. 
Williams,  and  Hon.  William  Darling  were  appointed  the  committee." 

[The  "  provision"  referred  to  in  the  "  preceding  article,"  is  in  the 
following  words :  "  A  general  provision  authorizing  them  to  hold  in 


406  x. — THE  PERMANENT  COMMITTEES. 

trust  for  this  Assembly  any  property  committed  to  them  by  donations, 
bequests,  or  otherwise."] — Minutes,  1854,  pp.  502,  503. 

[The  report  of  the  committee  of  three  legal  gentlemen  is  contained  in 
the  First  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian 
House  to  the  General  Assembly,  May  21,  1855.] 

• "  By  the  fourth  section  of  the  act  of  incorporation,  the  trustees  and 
their  successors  have  power  to  execute  any  trusts  that  may  be  confided 
to  them.  This  section  was  submitted  to  the  committee  of  three  members 
of  the  legal  profession,  appointed  by  the  last  General  Assembly.  They 
thought  it  both  safe  and  expedient,  with  respect  to  all  the  interests  of 
the  Church,  and  its  insertion  was  accordingly  secured  as  recommended. " 
—Minutes,  1855,  pp.  52,  53. 

Acceptance  of  the  House  conditionally  authorized. 

"  The  committee  finally  recommend,  that  the  Assembly  take  its  pos 
session  of  the  house  in  Philadelphia,  referred  to  in  the  overture  from 
the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  4th,  as  a  House  of  Publication,  on  the 
terms  and  conditions,  as  to  the  price  and  payments,  following,  viz.  : 

"  The  General  Assembly  will  authorize  the  conditional  acceptance  of 
the  property,  so  soon  as  $12,500  shall  have  been  pledged  by  responsible 
persons,  connected  with  the  churches  of  Philadelphia;  and,  when  this 
pledge  has  thus  been  made,  suitable  measures  shall  be  authorized  to 
raise  a  like  sum  of  $12,500  ;  and  the  balance — say  ,§20,000 — shall  be 
left  on  mortgage,  to  be  liquidated  by  a  sinking-fund  arising  from  the 
annual  proceeds  of  the  House.  When  the  measures  to  complete  the 
purchase  have  been  perfected,  the  Assembly  will  take  the  property  un 
conditionally  ;  and,  to  the  end  that  the  legal  measures  may  be  taken  to 
perfect  the  title  prior  to  the  next  meeting  of  the  Assembly,  five  trustees 
of  the  Plouse  of  Publication  shall  be  elected,  who  shall  be  authorized  to 
obtain  an  act  of  incorporation." — Minutes,  1854,  p.  508. 

2.    Trustees. 

"  The  committee  to  nominate  members  of  the  Doctrinal  Tract  Com 
mittee  and  Trustees  for  the  Presbyterian  Publication  House,  made  the 
following  report,  which  was  adopted : 

"  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Publication  House :  Messrs.  J.  A. 
Brown,  S.  H.  Perkins,  C.  S.  Wurts,  M.  W.  Baldwin,  and  J.  C.  Farr."— 
Minutes,  1854,  p.  510. 


TRUSTEES  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  HOUSE.          407 


3.  The  Charter  accepted.  Board  of  Trust  enlarged;  Duties  and  Powers. 

"The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  the  trustees  of 
the  Presbyterian  House,  and  of  the  Publication  Committee,  have  con 
sidered  the  same,  and  report  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions,  for 
the  adoption  of  the  Assembly,  namely : 

"  Whereas,  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  by  an  act 
approved  by  the  Governor,  April  21,  1855,  incorporated  'The  Trustees 
of  the  Presbyterian  House,'  in  Philadelphia,  who  are  by  said  act  to  be 
elected  by  this  body,  therefore 

"Resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America :  1.  That  the  said  charter  be,  and  the 
same  is  hereby  accepted ;  and  that  the  trustees,  created  by  said  act  of 
incorporation,  be  directed  to  perform  all  the  duties  required  by  their 
appointment. 

"Resolved,  2.  That  the  said  trustees  be  directed  to  give  such  official 
notification  to  the  proper  authorities  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  as 
may  be  necessary,  of  the  acceptance  of  the  charter  by  the  General 
Assembly. 

"  Resolved,  3.  That  the  Assembly  do  now  elect  ten  trustees,  under 
this  charter,  five  of  whom  shall  be  ministers,  and  five  laymen,  all  of 
whom  shall  be  connected  with  some  Presbytery  or  church  under  the 
care  of  the  General  Assembly. 

"Resolved,  4.  That  the  first  meeting  of  the  trustees  shall  be  at  such 
time  and  place  as  shall  be  fixed  by  the  trustee  first  elected,  or  in  case  of 
his  inability  to  act,  the  trustee  next  elected,  who  shall  act  as  chairman, 
until  the  board  is  constituted  by  the  election  of  a  president  and  secre 
tary. 

"Resolved,  5.  That  the  trustees,  at  their  first  meeting,  be  directed  to 
divide  themselves  into  two  portions,  and  in  such  manner  that  there  shall 
always  be  in  the  board  five  ministers  and  five  laymen. 

"Resolved,  6.  That,  in  electing  these  trustees,  a  nomination  shall  be 
made  in  the  Assembly,  and  that  the  election  shall  be  by  ballot  on  the 
day  following  that  on  which  the  nomination  is  made. 

"Resolved,  7.  That  these  trustees  be  directed  to  keep  an  accurate 
record  of  all  their  proceedings,  and  report  the  same  annually  to  the 
Assembly. 

"Resolved,  8.  That  these  trustees  be  directed  to  take  such  measures 


408  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

for  raising  the  amount  pledged  by  the  last  Assembly,  for  the  purchase 
of  the  '  Presbyterian  House/  as  they  may  deem  expedient  and  proper. 

"Resolved,  12.  That  the  trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  House  be 
directed  to  report  to  the  next  Assembly  a  plan  of  rules  and  regulations 
for  the  government  of  said  trustees  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties. 

" Nominations  for  trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  House  were  made;  the 
election  to  take  place  to-morrow/' — Minutes,  1855,  pp.  26,  27. 

4.    Tlie  Charter. 

"AN  ACT  TO  INCORPORATE  THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN 

HOUSE. 

"  Whereas,  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  which  held  its  sessions  in  the  first  Presbyte 
rian  Church,  on  Washington  Square,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in 
May,  Anno  Domini  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-four,  did  ap 
point  John  A.  Brown,  Samuel  H.  Perkins,  Charles  S.  Wurts,  Matthew 
W.  Baldwin,  and  John  C.  Farr,  trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Publication 
House,  and  recommended  that  the  said  Board  obtain  an  act  of  incorpo 
ration  under  the  laws  of  this  State,  and  that  the  said  act  should  contain 
a  general  provision,  authorizing  the  said  trustees  to  hold  in  trust  for  said 
Assembly  any  property  committed  to  them  by  donations,  bequests,  or 
otherwise ; 

"  And  whereas,  several  gentlemen  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  feeling 
the  necessity  of  some  suitable  place  for  the  business  of  the  societies  and 
churches  connected  with  the  said  Assembly,  purchased  a  property  for 
that  purpose,  which  they  are  desirous  of  conveying  to  the  said  trustees; 

"  And  whereas,  the  said  trustees  will  labor  under  serious  disadvan 
tages,  as  to  receiving  and  holding  the  title  of  said  property,  as  well  as 
any  that  may  be  committed  to  them  by  donations,  bequests,  or  otherwise, 
in  trust  for  said  Assembly  ;  therefore, 

u  SEC.  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  in  General  Assembly  met,  and 
it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That  John  A.  Brown, 
Samuel  H.  Perkins,  Charles  S.  Wurts,  Matthew  W.  Baldwin,  and  John 
C.  Farr,  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  of  this  Commonwealth,  and 
their  successors,  are  hereby  constituted  and  declared  to  be  a  body  politic 
and  corporate,  by  the  name  of  f  The  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian 
House;'  and  as  such  shall  have  perpetual  succession,  and  be  able  to 


TRUSTEES  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  HOUSE.          409 

sue  and  be  sued,  and  to  purchase  and  receive,  take  and  hold,  to  them 
and  their  successors  forever,  lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments,  goods, 
money,  and  chattels,  and  all  kinds  of  property  and  estate,  which  may  be 
devised,  or  bequeathed,  or  given  to  them,  or  to  the  said  Assembly  for 
them,  and  the  same  to  sell,  alien,  demise,  and  convey;  also  to  make  a 
common  seal,  and  the  same  to  alter  and  renew  at  their  pleasure ;  and 
also  to  make  such  rules,  by-laws,  and  ordinances,  as  may  be  needful  for 
the  government  of  said  corporation,  and  not  inconsistent  with  the  Con 
stitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of  this  State  :  Provided 
always,  That  the  clear  yearly  income  of  the  real  estate  held  by  the  said 
corporation  shall  not  at  any  time  exceed  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dol 
lars. 

"  SEC.  2.  That  the  trustees  above  named  shall  hold  their  office  till  the 
first  day  of  June,  Anno  Domini  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty- 
five,  and  until  their  successors  are  duly  qualified  to  take  their  places, 
who  shall  be  chosen  by  the  said  Assembly  and  their  successors,  who  may, 
at  any  annual  meeting,  increase  the  number  of  said  trustees  to  ten,  if  in 
their  judgment  the  interest  of  the  churches  under  their  care  require  it. 

"  SEC.  3.  That  the  said  Assembly  and  their  successors  shall,  at  their 
annual  meeting  in  each  and  every  year,  wherever  held,  elect  at  least  five 
trustees,  who  shall  hold  their  office  for  one  year,  and  until  their  succes 
sors  are  elected  and  qualified  :  Provided,  That  the  said  corporators  shall 
be  citizens  of  Pennsylvania. 

"  SEC.  4.  That  the  trustees  hereby  incorporated,  and  their  successors, 
shall,  subject  to  the  direction  of  the  said  Assembly  and  their  successors, 
have  full  power  to  manage  all  funds,  property,  and  effects  committed  to 
their  care  by  gift,  purchase,  bequest,  or  otherwise,  and  to  execute  any 
trusts  confided  to  them  by  the  said  General  Assembly  or  their  successors, 
in  such  manner  as  shall  be  deemed  most  advantageous,  and  not  contrary 
to  law,  or  the  intention  of  the  donor  or  testator. 

"SEC.  5.  That  the  act,  entitled  'An  act  to  incorporate  the  trustees 
of  the  Constitutional  Presbyterian  Publication  House/  approved  the 
thirteenth  day  of  April,  Anno  Domini  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fifty -five,  be,  and  the  same  is,  hereby  repealed. 

"HENRY  K.  STRONG, 
"  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

"\yM.    M.*HlESTER, 

*'  Speaker  of  the  Senate. 


410  X. — THE   PERMANENT    COMMITTEES. 

"  Approved  the  twenty-first  day  of  April,  Anno  Domini  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fifty -five. 

"JAMES  POLLOCK." 
— Minutes,  1855,  pp.  53,  54. 

5.    The  Trustees. 

"  As  trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  House,  the  following  individuals 
were  elected  :  John  A.  Brown,  M.  W.  Baldwin,  Charles  S.  Wurts, 
Samuel  H.  Perkins,  John  C.  Fan,  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  Rev.  Thomas 
Brainerd,  D.D.,  Rev.  Benjamin  J.  Wallace,  Rev.  Henry  Darling,  and 
Rev.  David  H.  Riddle,  D.D."— Minutes,  1855,  p.  29. 

6.  The  Legal  Title  secured  through  the  Liberality  of  John  A.  Brown,  Esq. 

"Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  notice  with  pleasure  the 
manifestation  of  promptness  and  liberality  in  the  president  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  House,  John  A.  Brown,  Esq.,  of  Phila 
delphia,  who,  by  a  munificent  donation,  has  secured  to  the  trustees  the 
legal  title  of  the  Presbyterian  House." — Minutes,  1857,  p.  410. 


SECTION  6. — THE  EDUCATION  COMMITTEE. 

].  Formation  of  the  Permanent  Committee.  Located  in  New  York.  Consisting 
of  lifteen,  seven  of  whom  must  reside  in  or  near  New  York.  Five  constitute  a 
quorum.  Classes  and  term  of  office.  Duties  of  the  committee.  The  Synods 
and  Presbyteries  urged  to  co-operate.  Plans  of  co-operation. — 2.  Organization 
and  report  of  the  committee.  Plan  for  aiding  beneficiaries,  adopted. — 3.  The 
plan  of  the  committee  endorsed  and  commended.  The  charter  approved  and 
accepted.  Candidates  to  retain  thei  r  Church  and  Presbyterial  relations  unchanged 
during  their  studies.  The  act  of  incorporation. — 4.  The  plan  again  commended. 
No  student  ought  to  receive  from  educational  funds  a  larger  appropriation  than 
is  contemplated  by  the  plan  of  the  Assembly.  The  endowment  of  scholarships 
urged. — 5.  The  committee  instructed  to  continue  their  work,  and  to  revise  the 
plan  and  submit  it  to  the  Presbyteries. 

1.  Formation  of  the  Permanent  Committee. 

[In  1854,  the  committee  reported  a  plan,  which  was  adopted,  and 
which  will  be  found  substantially  merged  in  the  following  action  of  1856. 
See  Minutes,  1854,  pp.  506,  507.] 


THE   EDUCATION   COMMITTEE.  411 

"  The  special  committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  the  Per 
manent  Committee  on  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  Gospel  minis 
try,  presented  a  report,  which  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows : 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  reports  of  the  Committee 
on  Education,  and  of  the  several  education  societies  co-operating  with 
this  Assembly,  respectfully  report,  that,  having  carefully  considered  the 
resolutions  proposed  by  the  Committee  on  Education,  they  would  recom 
mend  their  adoption  by  the  Assembly,  with  divers  alterations  and  addi 
tions,  in  the  following  form  : 

lt  Resolved }  1.  That  a  committee  of  fifteen  ministers  and  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  whom  five  shall  be  laymen,  shall  be  ap 
pointed  by  the  General  Assembly,  to  be  called  The  Permanent  Com 
mittee  on  Education  for  the  Ministry;  seven  at  least  of  whom  shall 
reside  in  or  near  the  city  of  New  York,  which  shall  be  the  seat  of  its 
operations.  Five  members  of  this  committee  shall  constitute  a  quorum; 
but  for  the  election  of  a  secretary  of  education,  or  for  action  upon  his 
salary,  a  majority  shall  be  necessary  to  constitute  a  quorum. 

"Resolved,  2.  This  committee,  as  thus  constituted,  shall  divide  itself 
into  three  equal  classes, — the  first,  second,  and  third, — whose  terms  of 
office  shall  expire  respectively  in  one,  two,  and  three  years.  The  Gene 
ral  Assembly  shall  annually  elect,  after  its  first  organization,  five  members 
of  this  committee  for  three  years,  to  fill  such  vacancies.  It  shall  also  fill 
any  vacancy  which  may  have  occurred  in  the  other  classes.  The  com 
mittee  shall  have  power  to  fill  any  vacancies  occurring  in  the  interval 
between  the  sessions  of  two  Assemblies,  for  such  an  interval. 

"Resolved,  3.  The  duties  of  the  Assembly's  committee  shall  be,  to 
superintend  the  whole  cause  of  education  in  behalf  of  the  Assembly ;  to 
appoint  a  general  secretary;  to  determine  his  salary  and  direct  his  move 
ments;  and  also  a  treasurer,  to  take  charge  of  the  funds  which  may  be 
collected  and  paid  into  the  treasury,  for  the  purposes  of  education ;  to 
devise  and  adopt  such  principles,  rules,  and  regulations,  in  reference  to 
aiding  candidates  for  the  ministry,  as  they  shall  deem  proper  and  feasi 
ble  ;  to  receive  and  disburse  funds  raised  within  the  bounds  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church  or  elsewhere,  and,  when  so  directed  by  the  donors,  to 
invest  funds  for  the  purposes  of  ministerial  education ;  to  take  the  general 
oversight  of  such  beneficiaries  as  receive  assistance  directly  from  the 
treasury  of  the  committee;  to  make  a  full  annual  report  of  all  that  has 
been  done,  so  far  as  they  can  learn,  throughout  the  Church  in  behalf  of 
education  for  the  ministry; — in  a  word,  to  do  all  that  is  proper  and  neces- 


412  X. — THE    PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

sary  to  the  development  of  an  educational  spirit  and  activity  throughout 
the  Church,  and  the  successful  prosecution  of  this  great  and  important 
cause  of  Christian  benevolence. 

"Resolved,  4.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  secretary  of  Education  to 
visit,  as  far  as  may  be,  the  Synods,  Presbyteries,  and  churches  throughout 
our  bounds,  for  the  purpose  of  awakening  the  interest  and  concentrating 
the  energies  of  the  whole  Church ;  to  visit  the  colleges  and  seminaries 
where  young  men,  aided  by  the  Permanent  Committee,  are  pursuing 
their  studies,  for  the  purpose  of  counsel  and  encouragement,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  presenting  to  young  men  the  claims  of  the  ministry  upon 
them  •  to  present  the  cause  to  the  churches  and  collect  funds  as  directed 
by  the  Assembly's  committee;  and  to  make  a  quarterly  report,  in  writing, 
of  his  labors  to  the  said  committee. 

"  Resolved,  5.  The  treasurer  of  the  committee  shall  render  quarterly 
accounts  of  all  moneys  received  and  disbursed ;  and  he  shall  pay  out  no 
moneys,  unless  thus  directed  by  a  written  order  of  the  committee,  which 
order  or  orders  shall  constitute  his  vouchers. 

" Resolved,  G.  The  Synods,  Presbyteries,  and  churches  are  earnestly 
requested  to  co-operate  with  the  Assembly's  committee  in  a  work  of 
such  urgent  and  inestimable  importance;  to  correspond  with  them  on  all 
points,  where  mutual  sympathy  and  action  are  necessary  to  bring  up  the 
cause  to  its  legitimate  position  in  the  prayers  and  efforts  of  God's  people; 
to  search  out  candidates  for  the  ministry  within  their  respective  bounds, 
and  to  raise  funds  necessary  for  their  support  while  in  a  course  of  pre 
paration  for  the  sacred  office.  It  is  particularly  urged  upon  them  to 
take  up  an  annual  collection  in  behalf  of  the  education  cause,  which,  if 
not  required  within  their  own  bounds,  may  be  transmitted  to  the  trea 
sury  of  the  Assembly's  committee,  to  be  used  for  the  support  of  such 
beneficiaries  as  may  be  under  their  patronage. 

"  Resolved,  7.  Synods,  Presbyteries,  and  churches  may,  at  their  own 
election,  carry  forward  educational  operations  within  their  bounds, 
through  their  own  agencies  and  local  organizations,  and  assist  their 
young  men  directly  from  their  own  funds,  and  according  to  their  own 
rules  and  regulations,  or  operate  through  the  Assembly's  committee,  con 
tributing  their  funds  to  the  general  treasury,  and  placing  their  candidates 
under  the  patronage  and  supervision  of  the  said  committee.  Where  the 
former  of  these  methods  is  adopted,  it  is  very  desirable  that  a  yearly 
report  be  made  to  the  Permanent  Committee,  in  order  that  the  combined 


THE    EDUCATION    COMMITTEE.  413 

results  of  the  whole  cause  may  appear  in  the  committee's  annual  report 
to  the  General  Assembly. 

"Resolved,  8.  The  Permanent  Committee  shall  be  empowered  to 
make  such  arrangements  with  the  Central  American  Education  Society 
at  New  York,  and  the  Philadelphia  Education  Society  at  Philadelphia, 
as  shall  insure,  if  possible,  the  harmonious  co-operation  of  these  societies 
in  the  work  of  educating  men  for  the  Gospel  ministry. 

"Resolved,  9.  It  is  recommended  that  the  young  men  aided  by  the 
Assembly's  committee,  be  ordinarily  placed  as  soon  as  possible  under  the 
care  of  Presbyteries ;  and  that  in  all  ordinary  cases  they  be  licensed,  if 
convenient,  by  the  Presbyteries  to  which  they  naturally  belong.  [See 
Form  of  Government,  chap,  xiv,  sec.  2.] 

"Resolved,  10.  That  it  be  recommended  that  the  annual  collection  in 
aid  of  education  for  the  ministry  be  taken  up  on  the  Sabbath  succeed 
ing  the  day  of  prayer  for  colleges ;  and  it  is  also  recommended  that  an 
appropriate  sermon  be  preached  on  the  occasion  of  that  collection. 

"Resolved,  11.  That  the  Presbyteries  be  directed  to  report  to  the 
General  Assembly  the  amounts  contributed  by  the  several  churches 
under  their  care,  in  aid  of  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry, 
and  that  the  said  sums  be  placed  in  a  separate  column  in  the  statistical 
minutes  of  the  Assembly. 

"  The  following  were  sfppointed  the  Education  Committee,  in  accord 
ance  with  the  above  resolutions  :  Rev.  John  J.  Owen,  D.D.,  Rev.  George 
L.  Prentiss,  D.D.,  Rev.  Asa  D.  Smith,  D.D.,  Mr.  Jesse  W.  Benedict, 
Mr.  Anson  G.  Phelps,  Mr.  Joseph  B.  Sheffield,  Mr.  Walter  S.'  Griffith, 
Mr.  William  A.  Booth,  Rev.  John  Jenkins,  Rev.  George  Duffield,  Jr., 
Hon.  William  Darling,  Rev.  Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  D.D.,  Rev.  Henry 
Smith,  D.D.,  Rev.  Harvey  Curtis,  and  Hon.  William  Jessup,  LL.D." — 
—Minutes,  1856,  pp.  222-224. 

2.    Organization  and  Report  of  Committee.     Plan  for  aiding 
J3  en  eji  claries. 

"The  Standing  Committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  the 
Permanent  Committee  on  Education  for  the  Ministry, 'respectfully  report, 
recommending  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolutions  : 

"Resolved,  1.  The  General  Assembly  recognizes,  with  gratitude  to 
God,  the  organization  of  the  Permanent  Committee  on  Education  for  the 
Ministry,  and  the  appointment  of  a  General  Secretary,  Rev.  Thornton  A. 


414  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

Mills,  D.D.,  who  has  entered  on  the  duties  of  his  office;  also,  the  fact 
that  the  report  of  the  committee  presents  and  enforces  the  foundation 
principles  of  this  work,  especially  in  its  relation  to  churches  and  Pres 
byteries. 

"Resolvedj  2.  The  Assembly,  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance 
of  a  plan  of  action  which  shall  develop  the  resources  of  the  whole  Church, 
and  bring  each  section  of  the  Church  to  the  work  of  training  its  own 
ministry,  adopts  the  arrangement  recommended  in  the  report  of  the 
Permanent  Committee,  with  some  additions  and  alterations,  in  the  fol 
lowing  form : 

"  1.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Church,  in  obedience  to  the  Saviour's  last 
command  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,  to  give  constant  and 
becoming  attention  to  the  increase  of  the  ministry. 

cl  2.  The  Presbyterian  Church,  in  its  congregations,  Sessions,  Presby 
teries,  Synods,  and  General  Assembly,  possesses  a  superior  system  of 
means  for  conducting  this  work  in  a  most  successful  manner. 

"8.  It  is  particularly  desirable  that  each  Presbytery  should  make  the 
subject  of  the  ministry  a  topic  of  serious  consideration  in  its  stated  meet 
ings,  at  least  once  every  year,  and  adopt  arrangements  to  have  presented 
to  the  churches,  through  their  own  ministers  as  far  as  possible,  the  wants 
of  our  Church,  our  country,  and  the  world,  in  this  respect ;  to  press  on 
young  men  their  duty  to  give  themselves  to  this  work ;  on  parents  their 
obligation  to  dedicate  their  children  to  it,  and  train  them  for  it;  and  on 
individual  churches  their  privilege  and  duty  to  see  that  all  their  sons, 
who  give  promise  of  suitable  qualifications  for  the  ministry,  are  sought 
out  and  encouraged  to  enter  it;  to  make  adequate  provision  for  the 
education  of  all  such  as  are  in  circumstances  to  need  their  aid,  and  who 
show  by  their  characters  and  improvement  that  they  are  worthy  of  it ; 
and  to  see  that  in  each  church  an  annual  collection  is  made  in  behalf  of 
this  cause. 

"4.  It  is  important  that  the  claims  of  the  Christian  ministry  on  pious 
young  men,  in  a  course  of  education,  should  be  publicly  presented  once 
every  year  in  all  the  colleges  within  our  bounds  ;  and  it  is  recommended 
that  the  general  secretary,  in  connection  with  the  officers  in  these  insti 
tutions,  secure  the 'performance  of  this  service. 

"  5.  While  the  General  Assembly  does  not  design  to  interfere  with 
the  action  of  separate  churches  and  Presbyteries,  or  the  combined  action 
of  a  number  of  them  in  their  synodical  capacity,  it  decidedly  recom 
mends  its  Permanent  Committee  as  the  bond  of  union  and  medium  of 


THE   EDUCATION   COMMITTEE.  415 

co-operation  in  this  work;  and  it  is  hereby  urged  upon  each  Presbytery 
and  Synod,  whether  co-operating  or  not  with  that  committee,  to  forward, 
through  its  stated  clerk,  to  said  Permanent  Committee,  at  some  time  in 
the  month  of  April  in  each  year,  a  full  report  of  its  doings,  in  reply  to 
such  questions  as  may  be  proposed  to  it ;  and  the  information  so  given 
shall  be  embodied  in  the  annual  report  of  the  committee  to  the  General 
Assembly. 

"  6.  Each  Presbytery,  designing  to  co-operate  with  the  Permanent 
Committee,  shall  appoint  annually  a  Standing  Committee  on  Education 
for  the  Ministry,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  examine  and  recommend,  in 
the  vacation  of  the  Presbytery,  such  young  men  as  require  assistance 
from  the  funds  at  the  disposal  of  the  Permanent  Committee;  and  to 
exercise  over  them  such  pastoral  supervision  as  may  be  possible,  while 
they  are  prosecuting  their  studies.  And  all  such  committees  are  hereby 
enjoined,  to  give  strict  attention  to  the  rules  prescribed  by  the  Perma 
nent  Committee,  in  any  recommendation  which  they  may  make,  so  as  to 
avert  dishonor  from  this  enterprise  of  the  Church,  and  avoid  the  waste 
and  misapplication  of  its  funds. 

"  7.  Every  Presbytery,  co-operating  with  the  Permanent  Committee 
by  presenting  the  subject  to  its  churches  annually,  and  taking  collections 
to  be  paid  to  the  general  treasury,  shall  be  entitled,  as  far  as  the  means 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  that  committee  will  allow,  to  receive  aid  for  all 
candidates  for  the  ministry  under  its  care,  however  much  the  appropria 
tions  to  them  may  exceed  the  contributions  of  such  Presbytery. 

"8.  It  is  recommended  to  all  the  churches  so  to  arrange  their  contri 
butions  to  benevolent  operations,  that  the  uniform  time  for  that  in  behalf 
of  education  for  the  ministry  shall  be  the  Sabbath  preceding,  or  succeed 
ing  the  last  Thursday  in  February  of  each  year,  the  day  of  the  Annual 
Concert  of  Prayer  for  Colleges. 

"9.  As  it  is  desirable  that  this  cause  should  assume  a  prominent  and 
permanent  place  in  the  contributions  of  the  churches,  it  is  recommended, 
to  those  whom  Providence  has  favored  with  means,  to  endow  temporary 
scholarships,  by  the  contribution  of  the  requisite  sum  each  year  to  assist 
a  student  through  his  theological  course ;  or  the  contribution  of  such  a 
sum  each  year  to  assist  one  through  his  literary  and  theological  course ; 
or  by  the  establishment  of  permanent  scholarships  by  donations  or  lega 
cies,  under  the  management  of  the  Permanent  Committee ;  and,  to  afford 
facility  and  security  in  doing  this,  the  Permanent  Committee  are  hereby 
directed  to  apply  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  for  a  suitable 


416  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

act  of  incorporation.  And,  until  such  act  is  obtained,  individuals 
designing  permanent  gifts  or  legacies,  are  requested  to  place  them  in 
the  legal  charge  of  the  trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  House  in  Phila 
delphia,  for  the  use  of  the  Permanent  Committee  on  Education  for  the 
Ministry. 

"  10.  The  General  Assembly  would  not  claim  any  authority  over  the 
institutions  where  our  ministry  are  educated ;  but  it  is  hereby  requested 
of  the  Faculties  of  the  Union  and  Auburn  Theological  Seminaries  in 
New  York,  of  Lane  Seminary  near  Cincinnati,  and  Maryville  Seminary 
in  Tennessee,  and  of  any  other  similar  institutions  hereafter  established, 
to  furnish  the  General  Assembly  each  year,  through  its  Permanent  Com 
mittee  on  Education  for  the  Ministry,  with  a  written  statement  of  their 
condition,  advantages,  and  prospects,  the*  names  of  their  professors,  the 
ordinary  yearly  expenses,  and  any  other  matters  of  general  interest  to 
the  Church,  to  be  read  to  the  Assembly,  and  published  as  an  appendix 
to  the  annual  report  of  the  said  committee ;  and  the  general  secretary 
is  hereby  charged  with  the  duty  of  presenting  this  request  annually 
to  said  Faculties,  in  time  to  receive  their  written  reports  before  the  meet- 
,  ing  of  the  General  Assembly. 

"  Resolved,  3.  This  General  Assembly  approves  the  rules  adopted  by 
the  Permanent  Committee,  for  aiding  young  men  in  their  preparatory 
studies  for  the  ministry,  with  some  alterations,  as  fitted  to  prevent  the 
introduction  of  incompetent  and  unworthy  men  to  this  office,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  afford  suitable  encouragement  to  those  whose  piety  and 
talents  give  promise  of  usefulness.  When  any  alterations  are  made  in 
these  rules,  the  Permanent  Committee  are  requested  to  report  the  same 
to  the  General  Assembly. 

"PLAN  FOR  AIDING  BENEFICIARIES. 

"  1.  Each  applicant  for  assistance  shall  present  a  certificate  of  recom 
mendation  from  a  Presbytery  (or  its  Standing  Committee  on  Education), 
stating  that  he  has  been  in  the  communion  of  the  Church  at  least  one 
year,  and  that  he  has  been  carefully  examined  as  to  his  experimental 
piety,  his  motives  for  desiring  the  sacred  office,  his  attachment  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  his  general  habits,  his  prudence, 
his  talents,  his  studies,  his  gifts  for  public  speaking,  his  need  of  assist 
ance,  his  disposition  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  sustain  himself,  and  his 
willingness  to  observe  the  rules  of  the  committee.  Such  certificate  must 
also  state,  whether  the  candidate  is  in  his  academic,  collegiate,  or  theo- 


THE   EDUCATION  COMMITTEE.  417 

logical  course,  and  the  amount  requisite  to  carry  him  through  the  first 
year. 

"  2.  While  it  is  highly  desirable,  that  all  who  receive  assistance  should 
be  under  the  supervision  of  the  Presbyteries  to  which  they  would  natu 
rally  belong,  and  should  be  recommended  by  them,  yet  if,  owing  to  the 
present  position  of  the  education  cause,  or  other  important  reasons,  a 
Presbyterial  certificate  cannot  be  obtained,  it  may,  at  the  option  of  the 
Permanent  Committee,  be  substituted  by  a  certificate  of  the  same  import, 
from  any  examining  committee,  appointed  by  them  for  such  purposes, 
at  any  educational  institution  where  the  student  is  pursuing  his  course. 

"3.  The  amount  granted  to  any  applicant  shall  not,  unless  in  very 
peculiar  circumstances,  exceed  one  hundred  dollars  for  the  academic, 
one  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  for  the  collegiate,  and  one  hundred  and 
forty  for  the  theological  course  per  annum,  to  be  paid  in  quarterly  in 
stalments  upon  the  return  of  schedules  to  be  filled  up  by  the  student 
and  his  instructors,  and  the  approbation  of  the  same  by  the  Permanent 
Committee. 

"  4.  Each  applicant  shall  give  a  receipt  or  acknowledgment  to  the 
treasurer,  for  the  amount  which  from  time  to  time  he  may  receive, 
promising  to  repay  the  same  with  interest,  if  he  fail  to  enter  upon  the 
work  of  the  ministry  within  a  reasonable  time,  or  turn  aside  to  any  secular 
pursuit ;  unless  the  Presbytery  to  which  he  belongs  shall  certify,  that 
there  are  good  reasons  for  his  relinquishing  the  active  duties  of  the 
office,  and  recommend  the  cancelling  of  the  obligation. 

"  5.  Individuals  receiving  aid  shall  be  under  the  pastoral  supervision 
of  the  Presbyteries  recommending  them,  and  also  of  the  general  secretary 
of  the  Permanent  Committee ;  and  will  be  expected  to  undergo  renewed 
examinations  on  passing  from  one  grade  of  their  general  course  to  another. 

((  6.  No  payment  shall  be  made  in  advance. 

"  7.  As  the  appropriations  of  the  committee  are  made  on  the  principle 
of  helping  those  who  help  themselves,  and  are  insufficient  for  the  entire 
support  of  a  student,  it  is  expected,  that  the  student  and  his  friends  will 
make  all  proper  exertions  to  assist  in  defraying  the  expenses  of  his  edu 
cation. 

"  8.  Each  student  aided  is  required  to  pursue  a  thorough  course  of 
study  preparatory  to  a  three  years'  course  of  theological  studies,  unless 
the  Permanent  Committee,  and  the  Presbytery  under  whose  care  he  is, 
in  the  exercise  of  a  wise  discretion,  shall  decide  that  his  circumstances 
require  that  his  studies  shall  be  abbreviated. 

27 


418  X. — THE   PER3IANENT   COMMITTEES. 

"9.  When  any  student  shall  find  it  necessary  to  relinquish  study  for 
a  time,  to  teach,  or  otherwise  increase  his  means  of  support,  he  shall  first 
obtain  the  consent  of  the  Permanent  Committee ;  and,  if  he  shall  not  be 
absent  from  study  more  than  three  months,  his  appropriations  will  be 
continued ;  but  if  longer,  they  will  be  discontinued,  or  continued  in  part, 
according  to  circumstances. 

"10.  When  a  student  has  ceased,  for  a  period  longer  than  a  year,  to 
receive  assistance  from  the  committee,  he  shall  be  required  to  produce 
new  testimonials  before  his  name  can  be  restored  to  the  roll. 

"  11.  When  the  official  relation  between  a  student  and  the  committee 
ceases,  or  is  about  to  cease,  he  is  required  to  notify  the  general  secretary 
of  the  fact,  stating  the  reason. 

"  12.  The  reception  of  an  appropriation,  by  a  student,  shall  be  con 
sidered  as  expressing  a  promise,  to  comply  with  all  the  rules  and  regu 
lations  of  the  committee. 

"13.  If  at  any  time  there  be  discovered  in  any  student  such  defect 
in  capacity,  diligence,  prudence,  and  especially  in  piety,  as  would  render 
his  introduction  into  the  ministry  a  doubtful  measure,  it  shall  be  con 
sidered  the  sacred  duty  of  the  committee  to  withdraw  their  appropria 
tions.  Students  shall  also  cease  to  receive  assistance,  when  their  health 
shall  become  such  as  to  unfit  them  for  study,  and  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry ;  when  they  are  manifestly  improvident,  and  contract  debts 
without  reasonable  prospects  of  payment ;  when  they  marry ;  when  they 
receive  the  assistance  of  any  other  educational  committee  j  when  they 
fail  to  make  the  regular  returns;  or  cease,  by  change  of  circumstances, 
to  need  aid. 

"14.  As -all  intellectual  acquisitions  are  comparatively  of  little  value 
without  the  cultivation  of  piety,  it  is  expected  and  required  of  every 
candidate,  to  pay  special  attention  to  the  practical  duties  of  religion ; 
such  as  reading  the  Scriptures,  secret  prayer  and  meditation ;  to  attend 
upon  religious  meetings  on  the  Sabbath,  and  during  the  week;  to 
endeavor  to  promote  the  salvation  of  others ;  and  to  exhibit  at  all  times 
a  pious  and  consistent  example. 

"Resolved,  4.  While  the  Assembly  feels  the  importance  of  a  thorough 
organization  of  the  Church,  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  work  of 
ministerial  education,  it  is  at  the  same  time  deeply  convinced  that  suc 
cess  will  not  attend  the  enterprise,  unless  the  earnest  efforts  of  its  friends 
are  united  with  prayer  to  God?  that,  by  the  abundant  outpouring  of  the 


THE   EDUCATION   COMMITTEE.  419 

Spirit,  the  life  of  the  Church  may  be  made  more  vigorous,  and  large 
numbers  of  the  youth  of  our  land  be  converted  to  Christ. 

"Resolved,  5.  The  General  Assembly  recommends  the  observance  of 
the  last  Thursday  in  February  as  a  day  of  prayer  for  the  blessing  of  God 
on  our  various  institutions  of  learning. 

"Resolved,  6.  That  the  election  to  fill  the  vacancies  in  the  Permanent 
Committee  be  the  first  order  of  the  day  for  Friday  morning,  and  that 
the  election  be  by  ballot. 

"Resolved,  7.  That  the  report  of  the  Permanent  Committee  be  pub 
lished  under  their  direction,  and  circulated  through  all  the  churches. 

"  The  same  committee  reported  the  following  resolution,  which  was 
adopted : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  memorial  of  the  Presbytery  of  Iowa  City,  on  the 
subject  of  Christian  education,  asking  the  General  Assembly,  through 
its  Permanent  Committee  on  Education  for  the  Ministry,  to  aid  in  erect 
ing  academies  and  collegiate  institutions,  be  referred  to  that  committee, 
with  instructions  to  consider  and  extend  aid  at  their  discretion  during 
the  year;  and  to  report  to  the  next  General  Assembly." — Minutes,  1857, 
pp.  388-392. 

3.  Injunctions  of  the  Assembly  0/1858.      The  Charter  approved  and 

accepted. 

"  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  find,  in  the  practical  workings  of  the 
plan  for  ministerial  education  inaugurated  by  the  last  General  Assembly, 
reason  to  regard  it  with  increasing  confidence,  and  consider  it  eminently 
wise,  and  admirably  adapted  to  develop  the  zeal  and  activity  of  the  whole 
Church  in  this  department  of  her  duty. 

"Resolved,  That  in  laying  the  foundation  for  this  work  in  a  living 
Christianity  of  the  body,  and  devolving  the  execution  of  it  on  individual 
churches  and  Presbyteries,  the  Assembly  has  proposed  the  most  evan 
gelical  and  effective  method  of  accomplishing  the  enterprise. 

ti  Resolved,  That  while  the  responsibility  of  performing  this  part  of 
her  mission  rests  on  Christian  parents,  and  the  individual  members  and 
elders  of  the  Church,  it  also  presses  with  peculiar  weight  on  ministers ; 
and  from  a  becoming  spirit  and  example  in  their  daily  labor,  and  a 
faithful  and  frequent  presentation  to  Christian  parents  and  youth  of  their 
obligations  of  covenanted  consecration,  the  happiest  results  may  be  rea 
sonably  expected. 


420  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  deeply  to  be  lamented  that  the  Saviour's  com 
mand;  f  Pray  ye  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  he  would  send  forth  la 
borers  into  his  harvest/  has  so  extensively  passed  from  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  his  people,  and  that  this  Assembly  admonish  all  its  ministers 
and  churches  of  this  neglect,  and  earnestly  exhort  them  to  give  atten 
tion  to  it  in  their  private,  domestic,  social,  and  public  devotions,  and  that 
they  especially  remember  it  at  the  monthly  concert,  as  well  as  at  the 
annual  concert  of  prayer  for  educational  institutions,  on  the  last  Thurs 
day  of  February. 

"Resolved,  That  inasmuch  as  a  large  number  of  Presbyteries  have  dis 
regarded  the  urgent  recommendation  of  the  last  Assembly  to  forward  full 
reports  of  their  action  in  reference  to  ministerial  education,  this  Assem 
bly  readopts  that  recommendation,  considering  a  faithful  compliance  with 
it  essential  to  a  successful  enlistment  of  the  whole  Church  in  this  im 
portant  enterprise. 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  highly  desirable  that  the  subject  of  the  increase 
of  the  ministry  should  be  annually  presented  to  the  churches  on  the  Sab 
bath  preceding  or  succeeding  the  annual  concert  of  prayer  for  colleges, 
and  that  contributions  be  made  on  one  of  the  Sabbaths  above  named, 
when  it  will  not  interfere  with  or  disturb  systematic  arrangements  already 
adopted. 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  the  conviction  of  this  Assembly  that  a  large 
and  useful  increase  of  the  ministry  cannot  be  secured  without  constant 
vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  Presbyteries  in  the  introduction  of  men  into 
the  sacred  office,  in  arrangements  to  direct  their  efforts  and  facilitate 
their  settlement,  and  in  holding  them  to  a  just  responsibility  in  the  dis 
charge  of  their  work,  and  also  without  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
churches  to  furnish  it  with  an  adequate  and  equitable  support.  . 

"Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  recommend,  as  a  general  principle, 
that  candidates  for  the  ministry,  especially  those  who  are  connected  with 
churches  under  the  care  of  our  newer  and  smaller  Presbyteries,  retain 
their  church  and  Presbyterial  relations  unchanged  during  the  progress 
of  their  studies. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Permanent  Committee  be  directed  to  publish 
this  annual  report,  or  such  portions  of  it  as  they  may  deem  advisable." 

"Ad  OF  INCORPORATION. 

"An  Act  to  incorporate  the  Permanent  Committee  on  Education  for 
the  Ministry,  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America. 


THE   EDUCATION    COMMITTEE.  421 

"  The  people  of  the  State  of  New  York,  as  represented  in  Senate  and 
Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows  : 

"SEC.  1.  John  J.  Owen,  Asa  D.  Smith,  George  L.  Prentiss,  William 
A.  Booth.  Joseph  B.  Sheffield,  Jesse  W.  Benedict,  Walter  S.  Griffith, 
Anson  G.  Phelps,  William  Hogarth,  Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  Henry  Smith, 
Harvey  Curtis,  John  Jenkins,  William  Darling,  and  William  Jessup 
(designated  for  the  purpose  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyte 
rian  Church,  which  met  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  May,  eighteen  hundred 
and  fifty-seven),  and  their  successors  in  office,  are  hereby  constituted  a 
body  corporate  and  politic,  by  the  name  of  t  The  Permanent  Committee 
on  Education  for  the  Ministry  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America;'  whose  duty  it  shall  be 
to  superintend  the  whole  cause  of  education  in  behalf  of  the  said  General 
Assembly,  as  said  General  Assembly  may  from  time  to  time  direct;  also 
to  receive,  take  charge  of,  and  disburse  any  property  or  funds  which  at 
any  time,  and  from  time  to  time,  may  be  intrusted  to  said  General  As 
sembly,  or  said  Permanent  Committee,  for  educational  purposes. 

"  SEC.  2.  The  said  corporation  shall  possess  the  general  powers,  and 
be  subject  to  the  provisions  contained  in  title  three,  of  chapter  eighteen 
of  the  first  part  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  so  far  as  the  same  are  applica 
ble,  and  have  not  been  repealed  or  modified. 

"Ssc.  3.  The  management  and  disposition  of  the  aifairs  and  funds  of 
said  corporation  shall  be  vested  in  the  individuals  named  in  the  first  sec 
tion  of  this  act,  and  their  successors  in  office,  who  shall  remain  in  office 
for  such  period,  and  be  displaced  and  succeeded  by  others,  to  be  elected 
at  such  time  and  in  such  manner  as  the  said  General  Assembly  shall 
direct  and  appoint. 

"  SEC.  4.  The  said  corporation  shall  in  law  be  capable  of  taking,  re 
ceiving,  and  holding  any  real  or  personal  estate  which  has  been  or  may 
hereafter  be  given,  devised,  or  bequeathed  to  it,  or  to  said  General  As 
sembly,  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  or  which  may  accrue  from  the  use  of 
the  same ;  but  the  said  corporation  shall  not  take  and  hold  real  and 
personal  estate  above  the  sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

"  SEC.  5.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 

"  Passed  April  17,  1858." 

"APPROVAL  BY  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  approve  of  the  act  of  incorporation 
obtained  by  the  Permanent  Committee  of  Education,  from  the  Legisla- 


422  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

ture  of  New  York,  and  of  its  acceptance  by  that  committee ;  and  that 
said  committee  thus  incorporated,  is  hereby  cordially  and  confidently 
recommended  to  such  persons  as  may  be  disposed  to  devote  property  to 
ministerial  education,  as  a  safe  and  responsible  agency  for  its  investment 
and  disbursement." — Minutes,  1858,  pp.  597,  598. 

4.  Report  and  Resolutions  of  1859.    Endowment  of  Scholarships  urged. 

u  The  committee,  therefore,  recommend  to  the  General  Assembly  the 
adoption  of  the  following  resolutions  : 

"  1.  That  the  Assembly  has  undiminished  confidence  in  the  plan  for 
promoting  the  increase  of  the  ministry,  adopted  by  the  Assembly  of  1857 ; 
the  more  it  is  examined,  and  the  better  it  is  understood,  the  more  worthy 
of  confidence  does  it  appear. 

"2.  That,  though  the  Permanent  Committee  and  their  secretary  have 
encountered  many  embarrassments,  in  the  incipiency  of  their  enterprise, 
yet,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Assembly,  they  are  doing  a  great  work;  and 
we  heartily  concur  with  the  two  Assemblies  last  past,  in  commending 
them  to  the  favor  of  the  churches. 

"3.  That  the  ultimate  result  towards  which  we  should  aim,  is  the 
universal  adoption  of  this  plan,  as  soon  as  practicable,  and  that  it  be 
commended  to  the  favorable  notice  of  all  our  Presbyteries;  and  further, 
that  all  local  societies  within  our  bounds,  whose  existence  seems  neces 
sary  for  the  time  being,  be  requested,  as  far  as  possible,  to  adjust  them 
selves  to  it. 

"4.  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  no  student  ought  to 
receive  from  educational  funds  a  larger  appropriation  than  is  contem 
plated  in  the  plan  of  the  General  Assembly;  and  that  ministers,  and 
professors  in  colleges  and  seminaries,  be  requested  to  discountenance  all 
partiality,  and  scrupulously  adhere  to  the  Assembly's  plan  in  this  regard. 

"5.  That,  for  this  purpose,  all  Presbyteries  and  colleges  and  theolo 
gical  seminaries  be  requested  to  send  to  the  Permanent  Committee  the 
names  of  all  students  under  their  care  who  receive  aid,  with  the  amount 
apportioned  by  them. 

11  6.  That,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  connection  of  the  Permanent  Com 
mittee  with  every  part  of  the  Church,  every  Synod  be  requested  to  ap 
point  a  corresponding  member,  as  a  medium  of  communication  between 
the  Committee  and  the  Presbyteries,  pastors,  and  churches. 

"  7.  That  the  common  mode  of  raising  funds  for  this  cause  is,  at  pre- 


THE   EDUCATION   COMMITTEE.  423 

sent,  a  necessity;  but  that  the  perfection  of  the  work,  in  the  judgment 
of  the  Assembly,  is  the  endowment  of  scholarships,  held  in  trust  by  the 
Assembly's  Committee  under  its  charter;  and  that  anything  short  of  this 
is  liable  to  affect  injuriously  the  churches  and  the  young  men  who  receive 
their  benefactions. 

tl  8.  That  we  cannot  disguise  the  fact,  that  no  plans  or  rules  can  com 
pensate  for  the  want  of  a  livelier  interest  on  this  subject  in  all  our 
churches;  which  interest  would  obviate  all  our  difficulties,  and  silence 
all  complaints  in  all  parts  of  the  Church. 

"9.  That  the  Permanent  Committee  be  requested  to  appeal  to  the 
churches  to  make  immediate  and  special  efforts  to  replenish  the  general 
treasury  for  education ;  and  that  they  be  urged  to  contribute  both  for 
present  exigencies  and  wants,  and  also  for  a  permanent  endowment,  that 
the  support  of  applicants  may  not  depend  upon  the  scanty  and  uncertain 
contributions  of  the  Church. 

"  10.  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Assembly,  that  $35,000,  which  is 
but  little  more  than  twenty-five  cents  for  each  member  in  our  churches, 
is  the  very  least  amount  that  our  Church,  or  its  members,  ought  to  be 
content  to  raise  for  this  cause  during  the  coming  year/'  .  .  . — Minutes, 
1859,  p.  34-36. 


5.    Committee  to  revise  the  Plan,  and  submit  it  to  tJte  Presbyteries. 

"Resolved,  1.  That  the  Permanent  Committee  continue  their  work  as 
heretofore ;  and  that  they  be  instructed,  at  an  early  clay,  to  revise  the 
present  plan  of  the  Assembly,  and  submit  the  revised  plan  to  the  Pres 
byteries,  with  the  earnest  request  that  they  express  their  views  and 
wishes  concerning  it  to  the  Permanent  Committee  previous  to  the  meet 
ing  of  the  next  Assembly;  and  that  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  D.  Howe 
Allen,  D.D.,  Ezra  A.  Huntington,  D.D.,  and  Henry  B.  Smith,  D.D., 
be  appointed  to  confer  with  said  committee  concerning  the  revision  of 
the  plan. 

"  Resolved,  2.  That  this  Assembly  are  gratified  to  learn  that  the  Per 
manent  Committee  have  begun  to  aid  students  from  their  own  treasury; 
and  that  the  churches  be  earnestly  requested  to  replenish  that  treasury, 
that  the  work  may  go  on  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  cause  and  of  the 
Church  at  large/'-— Minutes,  1860,  p.  246. 


424  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 


SECTION  7. — THE  COMMITTEE  ON  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

1.  Origin  of  the  committee.  The  Permanent  Committee  established. — 2.  The 
committee  enlarged  to  twelve,  and  divided  into  three  classes. — 3.  Duties  of  the 
committee. — 4.  Formation  of  Foreign  Presbyteries  encouraged.  The  Synod  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey  empowered  to  form  and  receive  such  Presbyteries. — 
5.  Report  of  I860.  The  jubilee  year. 

1.    Origin  of  the  Committee,     Permanent  Committee  established. 

[In  1850,  the  subject  of  " erection  of  Presbyteries  in  foreign  lands/7 
was  referred  to  a  select  committee,  to  report  next  year.  Minutes,  1850, 
p.  820.  This 'committee  having  failed  to  report,  was  discharged,  and 
the  subject  recommitted  to  a  new  committee.  Minutes,  1851,  p.  10. 
Committee  continued,  1852,  p.  173;  1853,  p.  342.  In  1854,  the  com 
mittee  reported,  viz.  :] 

"  The  correspondence  with  ministers  in  connection  with  our  Church 
on  foreign  missionary  ground,  laboring  under  the  direction  of  the  Ame 
rican  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  has  been  carried  out 
according  to  the  instructions  of  the  General  Assembly. 

"  More  than  twenty  responses  have  been  received,  in  answer  to  the 
committee's  circular.  These  communications  are  characterized  by  a 
thoughtful  discrimination,  a  spirit  of  sincere  regard  for  our  Church,  and 
a  desire  to  secure  harmonious  and  successful  action  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  missionary  work. 

"  From  a  careful  review  of  this  correspondence,  and  a  consideration 
of  the  whole  subject,  your  committee  would  recommend, 

"  1.  That  this  Assembly  regard  it  as  inexpedient  to  take  any  measures, 
at  present,  for  organizing  Presbyteries  or  churches  on  foreign  missionary 
ground. 

"2.  That  an  annual  correspondence  be  recommended  to  be  kept  up 
between  our  foreign  missionaries  and  the  Presbyteries  to  which  they 
respectively  belong. 

a3.  That,  inasmuch  as  it  has  hitherto  been  found  to  be  impracticable 
to  form  distinctive  Presbyterian  organizations  among  the  converted 
heathen,  and  inasmuch  as  the  obstacles  which  have  hitherto  existed  may 
possibly  be  removed  by  further  conference  with  our  foreign  missionaries 
and  with  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  a  Standing 
Committee  of  five  ministers  shall  be  appointed,  who  shall  take  charge  of 


COMMITTEE   ON   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  425 

this  whole  subject,  correspond  further  with  our  missionaries  and  the 
Prudential  Committee  above  referred  to,  and  report  to  the  Assembly 
from  year  to  year. 

"The  report  was  adopted;  and  Rev.  Joel  Parker,  D.D.,  Rev.  James 
W.  McLane,  D.D.,  Rev.  David  0.  Allen,  D.D.,  Rev.  Edwin  F.  Hatfield, 
D.D.,  and  Rev.  Henry  Darling,  were  appointed  the  Standing  Committee 
provided  for  in  this  report." — Minutes,  1854,  p.  511. 

2.   The  Committee  Enlarged  and  Divided  into  TJiree  Classes. 

"Resolved,  That  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  and  Messrs.  John  A.  Brown, 
"VY.  E.  Dodge,  Treadwell  Ketch um,  Jesse  W.  Benedict,  David  Hoadley, 
and  Walter  S.  Griffith,  be  added  to  the  Permanent  Committee  on 
Foreign  Missions,  and  that  they  be  requested  to  divide  the  committee 
into  three  classes,  one  of  which  shall  be  elected  annually  by  the  Assem 
bly."—  Minutes,  1856,  p.  212. 

3.  Duties  of  the  Committee. 

"The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  the  Permanent 
Committee  on  Foreign  Missions,  together  with  a  resolution  and  memorial 
on  the  same  subject,  recommend  the  following : 

"  1.  That  the  report  of  the  Permanent  Committee  be  approved.  And 
we  are  grateful  to  God  for  the  efficiency  and  harmony  with  which  we 
have  been  enabled  to  prosecute  the  great  work  of  foreign  missions 
through  the  medium  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions. 

"2.  That,  in  addition  to  the  duties  already  devolved  upon  this  com 
mittee,  it  be  made  their  further  duty  to  ascertain,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
what  extent  the  churches  in  connection  with  the  General  Assembly  are 
engaged  in  the  work  of  foreign  missions,  and  report  the  same  to  the 
next  General  Assembly.  And  that  these  missionary  operations  in  which 
our  churches  are  engaged,  be  made  the  subject  of  an  annual  report  to 
the  Assembly  by  this  committee. 

"  In  which  reports,  they  shall  spread  before  the  Assembly  such  in 
formation  as  is  calculated  to  excite  and  deepen  an  interest  in  this  subject, 
and  foster  and  develop  the  spirit  of  missions ;  giving  the  number  of 
foreign  missionaries  of  our  Church  who  are  in  the  field,  the  number  of 
candidates  for  this  work,  the  amount  of  annual  contributions,  so  far  as 


426  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

practicable,  and  the  degree  of  interest  which  is  manifested  in  this  cause 
throughout  our  churches ;  together  with  the  measure  of  success  that  lias 
attended  missionary  effort;  and  communicate  any  information  which 
they  can  gain,  that  may  stimulate  and  develop  foreign  missionary  enter 
prise. 

"  3.  That  the  Presbyteries,  through  their  stated  clerks,  or  a  committee 
appointed  for  that  purpose,  furnish  to  the  Permanent  Committee  on 
Foreign  Missions  all  the  information  on  this  subject  that  may  be  sought 
or  they  be  able  to  furnish.  And  further,  that  the  Presbyteries  and 
Synods  give  special  attention  to  this  subject,  adopting  such  measures 
as  may  rouse  the  spirit  of  missions  among  the  churches/' — Minutes, 
1858,  pp.  595,  596. 

4.  Report  and  Resolutions  of  the  Assembly.  Formation  of  Foreign 
Presbyteries  encouraged.  The  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey 
empowered  to  form  and  receive  such  Presbyteries. 

"  The  unfinished  business  of  the  last  session  was  then  taken  up,  being 
the  consideration  of  the  report  on  Foreign  Missions;  which,  having  been 
amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  Your  committee  having  taken  into  consideration  the  report  of  the 
Permanent  Committee  on  Foreign  Missions,  and  the  overtures,  Synodical 
and  Presbyterial,  bearing  upon  this  part  of  our  ecclesiastical  work,  which 
have  been  referred  to  your  committee,  respectfully  submit  the  following 
report,  and  recommend  its  adoption  by  the  General  Assembly : 

"1.  The  Assembly  owe  it  to  the  Permanent  Committee,  to  record 
their  thanks  for  the  lucid  and  deeply  interesting  narrative  which  they 
have  furnished,  in  the  report  now  submitted,  of  the  past  and  present 
connection  of  our  Church  with  the  great  Christian  work  of  Foreign 
Missions  : 

"2.  It  is  highly  desirable  that  said  report  be  printed  and  widely  cir 
culated  among  the  members  of  our  churches ;  and  also  that  our  pastors 
present  to  their  congregations,  at  the  monthly  concert  of  prayer  for 
Foreign  Missions,  the  facts  contained  therein,  as  eminently  calculated 
to  induce  thankfulness  for  that  part  which,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
we  have  been  permitted  to  take  in  this  work  in  the  past,  as  well  as  to 
incite  us  to  more  earnest  zeal  and  labor  as  to  the  share  which  we  may 
be  hereafter  called  to  assume  in  carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth. 


COMMITTEE   ON   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  427 

"  3.  It  is  desirable,  also,  that  said  report  be  printed  in  the  Appendix 
to  the  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,  so  that,  there  may  exist,  in  an 
official  form,  a  permanent  record  of  the  interesting  facts  which  have 
been  thus  brought  under  the  notice  of  this  body. 

"The  following  overtures  or  memorials  on  the  subject  of  Foreign 
Missions  have  been  forwarded  to  this  Assembly : 

"  1st.  From  the  Synod  of  Minnesota,  praying  the  Assembly  to  decide 
such  measures  as,  in  their  wisdom,  may  seem  fit,  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  a  closer  ecclesiastical  relation  of  our  Foreign  Missionaries  with 
the  General  Assembly,  and  of  securing  also  direct  reports  from  these 
brethren  to  our  Assemblies,  Synods,  and  Presbyteries;  as  tending,  in 
the  estimation  of  the  memorialists,  to  a  larger  development  of  the  mis 
sionary  spirit  in  our  beloved  Church. 

"  2d.  From  the  Presbytery  of  Newark,  expressing  their  unanimous 
conviction  of  the  expediency  of  instructing  the  Permanent  Committee 
on  Foreign  Missions  to  concert  measures  with  the  Prudential  Committee 
of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  for  the  formation  of  Presbyteries  on  its  foreign 
field,  whenever  such  a  step  may  be  deemed  practicable. 

"3d.  From  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  Third,  stating  that  one 
of  their  members,  a  missionary  in  the  foreign  field,  having  been  recom 
mended  by  his  Presbytery  to  propose  to  his  Presbyterian  brethren  in 
the  same  mission,  that  they  should  form  themselves  into  a  Presbytery, 
declined,  with  his  brethren,  to  do  so,  upon  the  understanding  that  it 
was  the  business  of  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  Board  to  arrange 
the  ecclesiastical  organizations  of  missionaries  and  mission  churches  in 
foreign  lands;  thereupon  praying  the  Assembly  to  consider  this  subject; 
and  expressing  the  conviction,  that  our  churches  are  deficient  in  mis 
sionary  spirit;  that  our  young  men  are  not  coming  forward  to  offer  them 
selves  as  missionaries;  and  that,  though  actuated  by  no  sectarian  feeling, 
they  are  convinced  that  a  proper  missionary  spirit  cannot  be  created, 
or  kept  alive,  without  our  having,  in  some  way,  a  closer  relation  to  our 
missionaries,  and  without,  in  some  way,  bringing  home  to  our  churches 
the  feeling  that  this  is  our  own  work. 

"This  overture  further  reminds  the  General  Assembly,  that,  after 
contributing  millions  of  money,  we  have  not  a  solitary  mission  church, 
or  but  one,  in  the  entire  foreign  field ;  and  respectfully  suggests,  without 
venturing  to  dictate,  that  a  portion  of  the  foreign  field  be  set  apart,  to 
be  occupied  exclusively  by  missionaries  of  our  Church,  that  every  diffi 
culty  in  the  way  of  a  homogeneous  ecclesiastical  organization  may  be 
removed. 


428  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

"4th.  From  the  Presbytery  of  Greencastle,  recommending  to  the 
General  Assembly  to  secure  to  our  churches  the  direct  control  of  our 
ministers  laboring  in  foreign  lands,  as  to  their  ecclesiastical  relations. 

"  The  Assembly,  having  considered  these  overtures  and  memorials, 
further  resolve : 

"1.  That  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  have  reason  to  rejoice  in  God  that  they  have  been  per 
mitted  to  share,  with  their  brethren  of  other  denominations,  the  high 
privilege  of  bringing  into  efficiency  the  noblest  of  all  the  missionary 
institutions  of  our  country;  and  that,  in  both  funds  and  men,  our 
churches  have  supplied  so  considerable  a  proportion  of  the  expenditure 
which  has  been  incurred  in  founding  and  sustaining,  in  the  Turkish 
Empire,  in  Hindostan,  in  Ceylon,  and  elsewhere,  missions  and  labors 
which  have  reflected  so  bright  an  honor  upon  American  Christianity. 

"2.  That  we  rejoice  in  the  successes  which  the  Great  Head  of  the 
Church  continues  to  vouchsafe  to  the  operations  of  the  American  Board 
in  the  varied  and  difficult  fields  which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  it  is 
called  to  occupy;  and  fervently  desire  that  its  future  career  may  be  'as 
the  shining  light  that  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day/ 

"  3.  That  we  deeply  sympathize  with  the  Board  in  its  present  pecu 
niary  embarrassments,  and  commend  the  cause  of  missions,  as  conducted 
by  it,  to  enlarged  self-denying  liberalities  on  the  part  of  our  churches. 

"4.  That  the  time  has  now  come  when,  in  order  to  a  more  thorough 
development  of  that  missionary  spirit  which  should  pervade  every  portion 
of  the  Christian  Church,  the  prayers  of  the  memorialists,  now  enume 
rated,  demand  not  only  consideration,  but  action.  These  prayers  ask 
not,  in  any  instance,  for  a  cessation  from  the  co-operative  principle  in 
conducting  this  work,  but  simply  for  a  closer  connection  with  it,  by 
means  of  the  formation  of  Presbyteries  in  foreign  lands,  wherever  num 
bers  and  circumstances  will  allow  of  such  a  course.  In  the  judgment  of 
this  body,  this  request  consists,  not  only  with  the  highest  reason,  but 
with  the  broadest  charity ;  for  the  Assembly  cannot  forget  the  fact,  that, 
after  long  years  of  connection  with  the  foreign  missionary  department  of 
evangelistic  labor,  we  have  at  this  time  but  one  Presbyterian  church  of 
our  connection  in  the  foreign  field. 

"  The  Presbyterian  Church  have  had  too  great  a  share  in  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  American  Board,  and  in  building  up  its  noble  super 
structure,  to  be  willing,  except  for  the  most  imperative  reasons,  to  sever 
the  tie  which  binds  them,  the  one  to  the  other.  If  they  can  do  so  with 


COMMITTEE   ON   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  429 

fidelity  to  their  brethren  abroad  and  to  their  churches  at  home,  the 
Assembly  will  joyfully  perpetuate  their  co-operation  with  brethren  with 
whom  it  has  been  so  long,  so  honorably,  and  so  successfully  associated, 
in  advancing  throughout  the  world  the  interests  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom.  They  will  sacrifice  everything  for  this  but  the  salvation  of 
souls,  and  the  edification  and  general  prosperity  of  that  portion  of  the 
Church  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  them  overseers.  But 
the  General  Assembly  record  it  as  their  deliberate  judgment,  that  it  is 
due  to  the  interests  of  our  Church,  and  to  its  vital  connection  with  our 
foreign  work, 

"1.  That  it  should  be  distinctly  understood,  here  and  abroad,  that 
the  Board,  its  Prudential  Committee,  and  officers,  interpose  no  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  the  formation  of  foreign  Presbyteries. 

"  2.  That  the  appointments  of  missionaries  should  be  so  disposed, 
wherever  it  is  wise  and  practicable,  as  to  facilitate  the  formation  of  such 
Presbyteries. 

"3.  That  there  should  be  a  free  correspondence  of  our  missionaries 
with  the  Permanent  Committee  of  the  General  Assembly. 

"  4.  That  less  than  this  the  Assembly  cannot  declare ;  because  less 
than  this  would  not  lead  our  churches  to  identify  themselves  with  the 
operations  and  successes  of  the  Board,  and  to  manifest  that  interest  and 
zeal  in  its  welfare  and  prosperity  which  are  requisite  for  the  perpetuity 
among  ourselves  of  the  true  missionary  spirit. 

li  5.  That,  in  recording  this  their  judgment,  the  General  Assembly 
feel  encouraged  by  the  fact,  that  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the 
American  Board  have  frequently  professed  their  desire  and  purpose  not 
to  interfere  with  the  ecclesiastical  bias  of  the  missionaries,  or  with  the 
attempt  of  any  one  or  more  of  them  to  form  Presbyteries  and  Presby 
terian  churches  on  their  fields  of  labor.  Accepting  these  professions  in 
good  faith,  the  Assembly  desire  such  an  understanding  with  the  Board 
as  shall  lead  to  the  realization  of  all  which  is  sought  for  by  the  before- 
mentioned  Synod  and  Presbyteries,  and  demanded  by  the  convictions  of 
our  whole  Church. 

"  6.  That  this  General  Assembly  are  further  encouraged,  by  informa 
tion  which  has  reached  them  from  reliable  sources,  that  our  missionary 
brethren,  in  some  portions  of  the  work,  are  directing  their  thoughts  and 
aims  towards  the  perpetuation,  in  foreign  countries,  of  our  excellent 
Presbyterian  polity. 

"  7.  That  it  is  regarded  by  the  General  Assembly  as  both  desirable 


430  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

and  important,  that  our  brethren  who  are  laboring  in  the  foreign  field 
correspond  with  the  Permanent  Committee  on  the  subject  of  their  labors; 
and  that  said  committee  be  requested  to  prepare,  from  year  to  year,  such 
a  report  of  our  foreign  work  as  shall  be  calculated  to  quicken  the  zeal  of 
our  people  in  prayers  and  labors  for  the  conversion  of  the  whole  world  to 
Christ;  such  report  to  be  submitted  to  the  General  Assembly. 

"  8.  The  General  Assembly  hereby  appoint  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  Rev. 
Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  D.D.,  Rev.  Edwin  F.  Hatfield,  D.D.,  Rev.  John 
Jenkins,  Mr.  Matthew  W.  Baldwin,  and  Hon.  William  Strong,  a  special 
committee  to  attend  the  next  meeting  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  to  be  held 
in  Philadelphia,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  October  next,  for  the  purpose  of 
conveying  to  the  Board  the  Assembly's  views  as  herein  expressed,  and  of 
conferring  with  it,  or  with  any  committee  which  it  may  appoint,  as  to 
the  best  mode  by  which  these  results  may  be  most  wisely  and  prudently 
secured  ;  as  well  as  to  confer  in  regard  to  the  localities  where  our  mis 
sionaries  can  be  most  conveniently  and  speedily  concentrated. 

"9.  That  this  report  be  printed  in  circular  form,  and  transmitted  to 
each  of  our  foreign  missionaries,  with  the  recommendation  to  such  mis 
sionaries  that  they  proceed  to  form  themselves  into  Presbyteries  when 
ever  and  wherever,  in  their  judgment,  it  is  practicable  and  expedient. 

"  10.  That  the  candidates  for  the  missionary  work,  going  out  from 
our  body,  be  recommended  to  give  their  attention  to  those  fields  where 
Presbyteries  are  or  may  be  formed. 

"11.  The  General  Assembly  hereby  empower  the  Synod  of  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  to  form  and  receive  foreign  Presbyteries  whenever  con 
stitutionally  requested  so  to  do  by  our  foreign  missionaries. 

"The  committee  have  also  had  under  consideration  the  report  of  the 
General  Assembly's  Permanent  Committee  on  Foreign  Missions,  respect 
ing  a  certain  memorial  referred  to  them  by  the  last  General  Assembly, 
signed  by  Rev.  George  Duffield,  D.D.,  and  others,  on  the  desirableness 
of  our  instituting  missionary  operations  in  Mexico  and  in  Central  and 
Southern  America ;  also  a  second  memorial,  forwarded  to  this  General 
Assembly  by  the  same  parties,  on  the  same  subject;  in  respect  to 
which — 

"  The  committee  respectfully  submit  the  following  report,  and  recom 
mend  its  adoption  by  the  General  Assembly : 

"  1.  That  the  Assembly  regard  the  proposal  of  the  memorialists  as 
entitled  to  both  consideration  and  respect. 

"  2.  That,  in  the  present  attitude  of  our  work  abroad,  it  is  inexpedient 


COMMITTEE    ON   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  431 

for  this  General  Assembly  to  initiate  any  new  and  independent  foreign 
missionary  undertaking. 

"  Because  it  is  due  to  our  missionary  brethren  in  fields  already  occu 
pied,  that  all  our  available  men  be  commissioned  to  those  parts  of  the 
world,  in  which  it  is  deemed  important  to  facilitate  the  formation  of 
Presbyteries,  and  thus  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  particular  missions. 

"3.  That  it  is  yet  due  to  the  memorialists,  and  to  the  important  sub 
ject  which  they  thus  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  Assembly,  that  it  be 
held  over  for  advisement  for  another  year ;  and,  for  this  purpose,  the 
report  of  the  Permanent  Committee  is  referred  back,  together  with  the 
present  memorial,  to  said  committee  j  who  are  hereby  requested  to  re 
consider  their  report,  to  make  further  inquiries  respecting  the  field  indi 
cated,  and  to  report  to  the  next  General  Assembly." — Minutes,  1859, 
pp.  21-25. 

5.  Report  of  Standing  Committee,  1860.      The  Jubilee  Year. 

"The  command,  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature/  is  not  surpassed  for  distinctness  and  impressiveness  by 
any  saying  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  No  one,  that  pretends  to  love  the 
Master,  can  be  indifferent  to  this  direction.  Nor  does  it  pertain  alone 
to  individual  believers.  It  embraces  every  church  in  its  organic 
character.  Every  denomination  of  Christians  must  see  to  it  that  its 
name  is  identified  with  the  cause  of  foreign  missions.  It  would  be  fatal 
to  the  hope  of  any  professed  disciple  of  the  Son  of  God,  to  have  no 
sympathy  with  the  suffering  Redeemer  in  his  desire  to  save  a  perishing 
world.  It  is  disgraceful  to  any  company  of  believers  not  to  recognize, 
somewhere  in  their  system,  the  obligation  resting  upon  them  to  take 
part,  at  whatever  cost  and  sacrifice,  in  the  conquest  of  the  world  to  the 
dominion  of  the  Cross.  It  may  not  be  necessary  that  there  should  be 
as  many  distinct  organizations,  for  sending  out  and  sustaining  mission 
aries  upon  the  foreign  field,  as  there  are  separate  denominations ;  but  if, 
upon  careful  investigation,  it  be  thought  that  in  this  way  the  strength 
and  efficiency  of  any  portion  of  the  people  of  God  can  thus  be  more 
completely  developed,  then  no  considerations  of  a  worldly  policy  should 
be  allowed,  for  a  moment,  to  hinder  the  formation  of  a  new  missionary 
society.  We  are  not  called  upon  to  convert  the  heathen,  but  we  are 
bound,  as  individuals,  as  churches,  and  as  a  distinct  branch  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  do  all  in  our  power  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 


432  X. — THE   PERMANENT   COMMITTEES. 

every  creature.  We  are  debtors,  made  so  by  the  command  of  Jesus, 
( both  to  the  Greeks  and  to  the  barbarians,  both  to  the  wise  and  to  the 
unwise ;'  so,  as  much  as  in  us  is,  we  must  be  ready  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
not  only  to  them  that  are  at  Rome,  but  to  the  crowded  population  of 
China  and  India,  to  the  scattered  inhabitants  of  Polynesia,  and  to  the 
roving  hordes  in  our  own  wilderness. 

"  The  practical  question  at  present  is,  whether,  as  a  denomination,  we 
can  continue  to  work  with  the  American  Board,  or  whether  the  time  has 
come  to  initiate  a  system,  under  which  we  can  more  rapidly  and  fully 
develop  the  strength  and  spirit  of  our  people. 

"The  General  Assembly  finds  an  answer  to  this  question  in  the  report 
of  its  Permanent  Committee,  just  presented,  and  that  of  the  Committee 
of  Conference  with  the  American  Board ;  which  reports  are  to  be  printed 
in  the  Appendix  to  the  Minutes,  after  so  much  of  the  first  report  as 
relates  to  the  Presbyterial  character  of  the  churches  of  the  Ahmednuggur 
Mission  be  modified,  as  the  Permanent  Committee  now  desire,  to  corre 
spond  to  the  facts  in  the  case ;  and,  after  the  paragraph  be  stricken  out, 
relating  to  the  communication  of  a  missionary  to  a  Presbytery,  and  the 
memorial  of  the  Presbytery  to  the  Assembly. 

"The  attention  of  the  churches  is  called  to  certain  particulars  in  this 
elaborate  and  excellent  report  of  the  Permanent  Committee  : 

"1.  The  urging  upon  Presbyteries  of  the  importance  of  securing  a 
more  perfect  system,  in  respect  to  contributions  for  missionary  purposes, 
and  especially  the  necessity  of  reporting  such  collections,  not  in  a  spirit 
of  boasting,  but  in  order  that  full  and  correct  statistics  of  our  benevolent 
operations  may  be  secured. 

"2.  The  correspondence  from  the  Dacotah,  the  Madura,  and  the 
African  missions  is  worthy  of  notice,  from  the  excellence  of  these  com 
munications  and  the  important  information  which  they  convey;  but 
more  especially  as  constituting  the  beginning  of  an  interchange  of  letters 
between  the  General  Assembly  and  its  absent  and  distant  members,  who 
are  preaching  the  Gospel  among  the  heathen. 

"3.  That  portion  of  the  report  which  is  in  reply  to  the  memorial 
for  the  establishment  of  missions  in  Mexico,  and  Central  or  Southern 
America,  may  be  accepted  as  the  proper  reply  to  the  resolution  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Detroit,  and  a  memorial  signed  by  George  Dufneld  and  H. 
Kendall,  submitted  to  the  Standing  Committee ;  as  it  argues  at  length 
the  impracticability  of  attempting  to  establish  separate  and  independent 
missions  at  the  present  time. 


COMMITTEE   ON   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  433 

"It  is  only  necessary  to  say,  in  respect  to  the  report  of  the  Special 
Committee  of  Conference  with  the  American  Board,  that  everything 
sought  by  our  committee,  or  desired  by  the  General  Assembly,  was 
cordially  assented  to ;  and  we  rely  upon  the  good  faith  of  the  Prudential 
Committee  to  carry  out  their  own  declaration,  f  that  both  "  reason"  and 
11  charity"  demand  the  facilitation  of  such  organizations'  (that  is,  foreign 
Presbyteries),  '  whenever  circumstances  and  a  due  regard  to  the  great 
objects  of  this  board  will  allow;'  and,  in  view  of  the  offer  of  the  Pru 
dential  Committee,  it  is  resolved,  that  the  General  Assembly  will  gladly 
welcome  the  annual  delegation  sent  to  confer  with  them  by  the  American 
Board. 

"  The  Assembly  wish  to  be  understood,  as  expressing  their  undimin- 
ished  confidence  in  the  noble  institution  with  which  they  have  been  so 
long  associated  in  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  world,  and  their  desire 
still  to  co-operate  with  their  brethren  of  another  denomination  in  spread 
ing  the  news  of  salvation  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Especially  on  this 
'Jubilee  year,'  would  the  Assembly  enjoin  upon  all  its  churches  to  lend 
most  liberal  aid,  in  furthering  a  result  so  desirable  as  that  which  is 
sought,  viz.,  to  bring  the  board  to  its  next  anniversary  free  from  debt, 
and  prepared  to  begin  with  increased  ardor  and  energy  its  second  half 
century,  in  the  glorious  work  of  bringing  all  mankind  into  subjection  to 
Christ."— Minutes,  1860,  pp.  256-258. 


28 


CHAPTER  XI. 

CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  OTHER  CHURCHES. 

1.  To  correspond  with  foreign  churches,  belongs  to  the  Assembly. — 2.  The  Assem 
bly  grants  permission  to  correspond  with  local  bodies. — 3.  Proposals  to  correspond 
with  the  New  England  churches. — 4.  Plan  of  correspondence  with  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut. — 5.  The  right  to  vote  asked  by  the  Assembly  and 
conceded. — 6.  Conference  on  complaint  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. — 
7.  For  either  body  to  receive  a  candidate,  licentiate,  or  minister  from  the  other, 
without  regular  testimonials  and  dismission,  is  irregular. — 8.  Correspondence 
with  the  General  Convention  of  Vermont.  Regulations  same  as  with  the 
General  Association  of  Connecticut. — 9.  With  the  General  Association  of  New 
Hampshire. — 10.  With  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts. — 11.  With 
the  General  Conference  of  Maine. — 12.  With  the  Evangelical  Consociation  of 
Rhode  Island.  The  correspondence  discontinued  by  the  Consociation. — 13.  The 
Assembly  requests  that  the  right  to  vote  be  given  up. — 14.  Replies  of  the  Asso 
ciations.  New  Hampshire  agrees;  Vermont  refers  the  matter  to  a  committee; 
Massachusetts  declines. — 15.  The  rule  as  to  receiving  candidates,  licentiates, 
and  ministers  urged  upon  the  Associations  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire, 
and  Vermont. — 16.  Reply  of  the  Association  of  Massachusetts.  The  right  to 
vote  given  up.  The  rule  referred  to  the  district  associations. — 17.  Minute  on 
correspondence  with  the  New  England  churches. — 18.  Correspondence  with 
the  German  Reformed  Synod  of  North  America. — 19.  With  the  General  Synod 
of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. — 20.  With  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church. — 21.  With  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  Convention  of  Wiscon 
sin. — 22.  With  the  General  Association  of  New  York.  Further  proceedings. 
The  correspondence  continued.  The  Association  requested  to  couch  its  com 
munications  in  courteous  language.  The  right  to  review  proceedings,  rebuke  or 
reprove,  disavowed  and  denied. — 23.  The  terms  of  correspondence  defined. — 24. 
Correspondence  with  the  Union  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  of  France. — 25. 
With  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  North  America,  and  with  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church.  Terms  of  correspondence. — 2G.  Com 
pensation  of  delegates  to  corresponding  bodies. 

1.   To  correspond  with  Foreign  Churches  belongs  to  the  Assembly. 
"  The  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  Records  of  the  Synod  of 


XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES.  435 

Tennessee  reported,  and  the  Kecords  were  approved,  with,  the  exception 
of  a  proposal  to  establish  a  plan  of  intercourse  between  said  Synod  and 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterians ;  of  which  proposal  the  Assembly  disap 
prove,  on  the  ground  that  it  belongs  to  the  Assembly  to  correspond  with 
foreign  churches,  on  such  terms  as  may  be  agreed  upon  by  the  Assembly 
and  the  corresponding  body." — Minutes,  1827,  p.  219. 

2.    The  Assembly  grants  Permission  to  correspond  witli  Local  Bodies. 

a.  "  Resolved,  That  while  this  Assembly  would  not  interfere  authori 
tatively  with  the  lower  judicatories  in  the  exercise  of  their  prerogative, 
they  would  recommend  that  no  ministers  should  be  invited  to  sit  as  cor 
respondents  who  do  not  belong  to  some  body  in  correspondence  with  this 
Assembly."— Minutes,  1843,  p.  23. 

b.  "  The  report  of  the  committee  in  reference  to  correspondence  with 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Conferences,  which  had  been  put  upon  the 
docket,  was  taken  up,  and  the  following  resolution  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"  Whereas,  the  communication  of  the  Oneida  Annual  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  solicits  only  a  correspondence  between 
themselves  and  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  and  not  with 
the  Presbyterian  Church  generally;  and  whereas  the  Synod  has  referred 
the  matter  to  the  Assembly,  without  submitting  any  specific  proposition 
or  plan  for  such  correspondence  :  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  communication  be  referred  back  to  the  Synod, 
to  adopt  such  measures  as  they  may  deem  proper,  in  pursuance  of  the 
request  for  a  correspondence  of  the  local  bodies." — Minutes,  1850,  pp. 
323,  324. 

c.  "  Overture,  '  Is  it  orderly  for  our  Presbyteries  and  Synods  to  in 
vite  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  sit  as  corresponding 
members  T   which  was  answered  by  the  Assembly  unanimously  in  the 
affirmative." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  174. 

3.  Proposals  for  Correspondence  with  the  New  England  Churches. 

[In  1766,  the  General  Synod  adopted  an  overture  "  to  endeavor  to 
obtain  some  correspondence  between  this  Synod  and  the  Consociated 
Churches  of  Connecticut."  A  committee  was  appointed  to  meet  the 
delegates  from  Connecticut.  Minutes,  1766,  p.  364.  A  convention  of 
the  delegates  was  held  at  Elizabethtown,  November  5,  1766.  Its  min- 


436  XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES. 

utes  were  laid  before  the  Synod,  "  seriously  considered,  and  amended. " 
Delegates  were  appointed  to  attend  at  New  Haven  September  10, 
"there  finally,  on  the  part  of  this  body,  to  complete  the  plan  of  union." 
Minutes,  1767,  p.  374.  Under  this  plan,  the  Convention  met  alter 
nately  in  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut,  until  1776,  when  the  war  inter 
rupted  it.  In  1790,  the  General  Assembly  invited  a  renewal  of  the 
intercourse ;  "  Resolved,  that  the  ministers  of  the  Congregational 
churches  of  New  England  be  invited  to  renew  their  annual  Convention 
with  the  clergy  of  the  Presbyterian  Church."  Minutes,  1790,  p.  29. 
A  committee  was  appointed  under  the  above  resolution,  and  on  their 
report,  the  next  year,  another  committee  was  appointed,  to  meet  at  New 
Haven  "  such  ministers  of  the  New  England  churches  as  may  be  there 
present."  Minutes,  1791,  p.  33.] 

4.  Plan  of  Correspondence  with  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut. 

"  The  minutes  of  the  Convention  of  the  Committees  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States,  and  of  the 
General  Association  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  were  taken  into  con 
sideration,  an  extract  of  which  is  as  follows,  viz.  : 

11  Considering  the  importance  of  union  and  harmony  in  the  Christian 
Church,  and  the  duty  incumbent  on  all  its  pastors  and  members  to  assist 
each  other  in  promoting,  as  far  as  possible,  the  general  interests  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom  •  and  considering,  further,  that  Divine  Providence 
appears  to  be  now  opening  the  door  for  pursuing  these  valuable  objects 
with  a  happy  prospect  of  success ;  this  Convention  are  of  opinion  that  it 
will  be  conducive  to  these  important  purposes  that  a  standing  committee 
of  correspondence  be  appointed  in  each  body,  whose  duty  it  shall  be,  by 
frequent  letters,  to  communicate  to  each  other  whatever,  may  be  mutually 
useful  to  the  churches  under  their  care,  and  to  the  general  interests  of 
the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  That  each  body  should,  from  time  to  time, 
appoint  a  committee,  consisting  of  three  members,  who  shall  have  a  right 
to  sit  in  the  other's  general  meeting,  and  make  such  communications  as 
shall  be  directed  by  their  respective  constituents,  and  deliberate  on  such 
matters  as  shall  come  before  the  body,  but  shall  have  no  right  to  vote. 
That  effectual  measures  be  mutually  taken  to  prevent  injuries  to  the  re 
spective  churches  from  irregular  and  unauthorized  preachers.  To  pro 
mote  this  end;  the  Convention  judge  it  expedient  that  every  preacher 
travelling  from  the  limits  of  one  of  these  churches  into  those  of  the 


XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES.  437 

other,  shall  be  furnished  with  recent  testimonials  of  his  regular  standing 
and  good  character  as  a  preacher,  signed  by  the  moderator  of  the  Pres 
bytery  or  Association  in  which  he  received  his  license;  or,  if  a  minister, 
of  his  good  standing  and  character,  as  such,  from  the  moderator  of 
the  Presbytery  or  Association  where  he  last  resided ;  and  that  he  shall, 
previously  to  his  travelling  as  a  preacher  into  distant  parts,  further  re 
ceive  a  recommendation  from  one  member  at  least  of  a  standing  com 
mittee,  to  be  hereafter  appointed  by  each  body,  certifying  his  good 
qualifications  as  a  preacher.  Also,  that  the  names  of  this  standing  com 
mittee  shall  be  mutually  communicated.  And  also,  that  every  preacher, 
travelling  and  recommended  as  above,  and  submitting  to  the  stated  rules 
of  the  respective  churches,  shall  be  received  as  an  authorized  preacher 
of  the  Gospel,  and  cheerfully  taken  under  the  patronage  of  the  Presby 
tery  or  Association  within  whose  bounds  he  shall  find  employment  as  a 
preacher.  And  that  the  proceedings  of  the  respective  bodies  on  this 
report  be  communicated  to  our  brethren  of  the  Congregational  and  Pres 
byterian  Churches  throughout  the  States. 

li  Upon  mature  deliberation,  the  Assembly  unanimously  and  cordially 
approved  of  the  said  plan ;  and  to  carry  the  same  into  effect,  appointed 
the  Rev.  Drs.  John  Rodgers,  John  Witherspoon,  and  Ashbel  Green,  to 
be  a  committee  of  correspondence,  agreeably  to  the  said  plan.  And  it 
is  moreover  agreed,  that  this  Assembly  will  send  delegates  to  sit  and 
consult  with  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  and  receive  their 
delegates  to  sit  in  this  Assembly,  agreeably  to  another  article  of  the 
plan,  as  soon  as  due  information  shall  be  received  that  it  is  adopted  on 
the  part  of  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut." 

[A  standing  committee  was  appointed]  "  to  certify  the  good  qualifica 
tions  of  the  preachers  travelling  to  officiate  in  the  bounds  of  the  Associa 
tion  of  the  State  of  Connecticut. 

"  And  it  was  moreover  agreed,  that  any  preacher  travelling  as  afore 
said,  shall  have  at  least  the  name  of  one  of  the  committee  who  shall 
belong  to  the  Synod  from  whose  bounds  he  came." — Minutes,  1792,  pp. 
52,  53. 

["The  convention  was  ratified  by  the  General  Association  of  Connec 
ticut,  and  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards  and  Rev.  Matthias  Burnet  took  their 
seats  in  the  Assembly."] — Minutes,  1793,  p.  64. 

5.   The  right  to  Vote  asked  and  conceded. 
"The  Assembly  proposed  to  the  Association,   'That  the   delegates 


438  XI CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES. 

from  these  bodies  respectively  shall  have  a  right,  not  only  to  sit  and 
deliberate,  but  also  to  vote,  in  all  questions  which  may  be  determined 
by  either  of  them/  ?;  Minutes,  1794,  p.  80.  The  proposition  was 
acceded  to  by  the  Association. — Minutes,  1795,  p.  98. 

6.  Conference  on  Complaint  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. 

"Overture  No.  10  was  taken  up,  viz. :  A  reference  from  the  Presby 
tery  of  Philadelphia,  relative  to  the  ordination  of  Mr.  John  Chambers 
by  the  Association  of  the  Western  District  of  New  Haven  county,  Con 
necticut.  The  papers  on  this  business  were  read ;  after  which  the  sub 
ject  was  discussed  at  considerable  length.'' — Minutes,  1826,  p.  172. 

"  The  Assembly  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  reference  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  in  relation  to  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Chambers. 
After  further  discussion  of  the  subject  at  considerable  length,  the  follow 
ing  resolution  was  adopted,  viz. : 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  this  Assembly,  consisting  of  three,  be 
appointed  to  attend  at  the  meeting  of  the  General  Association  of  Con 
necticut,  to  be  convened  at  Stamford  in  June  next,  to  meet  a  similar 
committee  of  that  Association,  if  said  Association  shall  be  pleased  to 
appoint  one,  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  on  the  grievance  of  which  the 
Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  complain ;  and  of  inquiring  whether  any,  and 
if  any,  what  further  articles,  or  alteration  of  the  present  terms  of  inter 
course  between  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  and  the 
members  of  the  Congregational  Churches  in  Connecticut,  may  be  expe 
dient  for  the  better  promotion  of  the  purity,  peace,  and  Christian 
discipline  of  the  churches  connected  with  the  two  bodies;  which  further 
articles  or  alterations  of  the  present  terms  of  intercourse,  if  any  shall  be 
proposed  by  the  joint  committee,  shall  be  submitted  to  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut,  and  to  the  General  Assembly  of  1827,  for 
adoption  or  rejection." — Minutes,  1826,  p.  175. 

[The  Commission  met  in  New  York,  August  1,  1826.] 

7.  For  either  Body  to  receive  a  Candidate,  Licentiate,  or  Minister,  from 
the  other,  without  regular  Testimonials  and  Dismission,  an  infraction 
of  the  Plan. 

"  Prom  the  commission  and  instructions  of  the  committee  from  the 
General  Association  of  Connecticut,  it  appeared  that  they  had  no  power 


XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES.  489 

to  do  anything  in  relation  to  the  case  of  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Chambers ; 
but  that  they  were  appointed  only  on  that  part  of  the  communication 
which  respects  the  terms  of  intercourse  between  the  General  Assembly 
and  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut. 

"  After  mature  deliberation,  it  was  unanimously — 

u  Resolved ,  That  the  two  following  rules  be  proposed  to  the  General 
Assembly  and  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  for  the  future 
regulation  of  their  intercourse  with  each  other,  viz. : 

"  1.  That  it  shall  be  deemed  irregular  and  unfriendly  for  any  Presby 
tery  or  Association  within  the  bounds  of  the  corresponding  churches,  to 
receive  any  candidate  for  licensure,  licentiate,  or  ordained  minister,  into 
connection  with  either,  without  regular  testimonials,  and  a  regular  dis 
mission  from  the  Presbytery  or  Association  from  which  the  said  candi 
date,  licentiate,  or  minister  may  come. 

"2.  That  the  delegates  commissioned  respectively  by  the  correspond 
ing  churches  to  attend  the  highest  body  of  each  be  hereafter  empow 
ered,  agreeably  to  the  original  plan  of  correspondence  between  the  two 
churches,  to  sit  and  deliberate  only,  but  not  to  vote. 

"The  above  report  was  accepted;  and  the  two  resolutions  recom 
mended  by  the  joint  committee  were  adopted  by  the  Assembly." — 
Minutes,  1827,  pp.  199,  200. 

8.  With  the  General  Convention  of  Vermont. 

a.  "  A  communication  to  this  General  Assembly  from  the  General 
Convention  of  the  regular  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  the  State  of  Ver 
mont,  proposing  the  formation  of  a  plan  of  ministerial  intercourse 
between  them  and  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America,  was  brought  in  and  read." — Minutes, 
1802,  p.  238. 

I).  "  The  committee  appointed  on  the  communication  from  the  Con 
vention  of  the  regular  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  the  State  of  Vermont, 
reported.  The  report  being  considered  and  amended,  was  adopted,  and 
is  as  follows : 

"  Your  committee  are  of  opinion  that,  although  this  Assembly  have 
not  received  any  answer  to  the  request  of  last  Assembly,  proposed  to  the 
Convention  of  Vermont,  yet  the  Assembly  have  received  satisfactory 
information  on  the  subjects  alluded  to,  both  from  their  own  delegates  to 
the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  of  last  year,  and  also  from  the 


440  XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES. 

representatives  of  that  body  in  the  present  Assembly.  The  committee 
therefore  submit  the  following  plan  of  union  and  intercourse  between 
the  said  Convention  and  the  General  Assembly,  viz. : 

"1.  Each  body  shall  send  one  or  two  delegates  to  meet  and  sit  with 
the  other  at  the  stated  sessions  of  each  body  respectively. 

"2.  The  delegate  or  delegates  from  each  respectively  shall  have  the 
privilege  of  joining  in  the  discussions  and  deliberations  of  the  body  as 
freely  and  fully  as  their  own  members. 

"  3.  That  the  union  and  intercourse  may  be  full  and  complete  between 
the  said  bodies,  the  delegate  or  delegates  from  each  respectively,  shall 
not  only  sit  and  deliberate,  but  also  act  and  vote ;  which  articles  comprise 
the  great  principles  of  the  union  between  the  General  Assembly  and  the 
General  Association  of  Connecticut." — Minutes,  1803,  p.  279. 

" Ratified  by  the  Convention."— Minutes,  1804,  p.  297. 

Regulations  same  as  with  the  Association  of  Connecticut. 

c.  "  Resolved,  That  the  delegate  appointed  to  represent  this  Assembly 
at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Convention  of  Vermont  be,  and  he  hereby  is 
authorized  to  propose  and  agree  upon  the  same  regulations  which  have 
been  agreed  to  be  observed  by  this  Assembly  and  the  General  Associa 
tion  of  Connecticut,  in  relation  to  the  credentials  requisite  for  such 
ministers  as  may  come  within  the  bounds  of  this  Assembly  or  the  Con 
vention  of  Vermont,  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  the  Gospel." — Minutes, 
1809,  p.  422.  [See  pp.  436,  437.] 

[The  proposal  "was  agreed  to  with  great  unanimity"  by  the  Conven 
tion.] — Minutes,  1810,  p.  436. 


9.   With  the  General  Association  of  New  Hampshire. 

"A  proposal  from  the  General  Association  of  New  Hampshire  was 
made  by  the  Rev.  William  F.  Rowland  and  the  Rev.  John  H.  Church, 
commissioners  appointed  for  that  purpose,  for  a  union  between  them  and 
this  Assembly  similar  to  that  subsisting  between  the  General  Associa 
tion  of  Connecticut  and  this  Assembly.  The  certificate  of  their  appoint 
ment,  and  the  papers  accompanying  it,  were  read. 

"Resolved,  That  said  union  be  formed. 

"And  it  accordingly  was  formed." — Minutes,  1810,  p.  435. 


XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES.  441 


10.    With  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts. 

t(  A  proposal  from  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts  proper, 
was  made  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Lyman,  D.D.,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Worcester,  delegates  appointed  for  that  purpose,  for  the  establishment 
of  a  union  between  them  and  this  Assembly,  similar  to  that  subsisting 
between  the  Association  of  Massachusetts  proper  and  the  Associations 
of  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire.  The  certificate  of  their  appoint 
ment,  and  the  articles  of  union  with  said  Association  were  read. 

"The  articles  of  said  union  are  as  follows : 

"  1.  The  General  Association  of  Connecticut  and  the  General  Associa 
tion  of  Massachusetts  proper,  shall  annually  appoint  each  two  delegates 
to  the  other. 

"  2.  The  delegates  shall  be  admitted  in  each  body  to  the  same  rights 
of  sitting,  debating,  and  voting  with  their  own  members  respectively. 

"  3.  It  shall  be  understood  that  the  articles  of  agreement  and  con 
nection  between  the  two  bodies,  may  be  at  any  time  varied  by  their  own 
consent. 

"  The  same  articles  were  adopted  in  their  connection  with  the  Associa 
tion  of  New  Hampshire. 

"  The  delegates  stated  that  the  Shorter  Catechism  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly  was  adopted  as  the  basis  of  their  union,  and  by  answering 
several  questions  proposed  to  them,  fully  satisfied  the  Assembly  relative 
to  the  standard  of  their  faith,  and  the  object  of  their  Association; 
whereupon, 

"Resolved,  unanimously,  That  said  Union  be  formed/' — Minutes, 
1811,  p.  462. 

11.    With  the  General  Conference  of  Maine. 

"  The  Rev.  Benjamin  Tappan,  and  William  Ladd,  Esq.,  appeared  in 
the  Assembly,  and  produced  commissions  as  delegates  from  the  General 
Conference  of  the  State  of  Maine. 

"The  committee  appointed  to  confer  with  the  delegates  from  the 
General  Conference  of  the  State  of  Maine,  made  the  following  report, 
which  was  adopted,  viz. : 

"  That  after  obtaining  all  the  information  which  they  deemed  requi 
site,  respecting  the  body  proposing  this  connection,  they  have  agreed  to 
recommend  to  the  General  Assembly  the  adoption  of  the  following 


442  XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES. 

articles  of  correspondence,  -which  the  above  named  delegates  doubt  not 
will  be  readily  accede'd  to  on  the  part  of  the  General  Conference. 

"1.  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the 
General  Conference  of  Maine,  shall  each  appoint  one  or  two  delegates 
to  attend  these  bodies  respectively;  and  in  case  two  are  appointed,  one 
may  be  a  layman;  for  the  purpose  of  communicating  to  each  other 
whatever  may  be  mutually  useful  to  the  churches  under  their  care,  and 
conducive  to  Christian  harmony  and  co-operation,  and  to  the  general 
interest  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom. 

"2.  These  delegates  shall  have  the  privilege  of  proposing  such 
measures  as  they  may  deem  important  or  desirable,  and  of  delivering 
their  opinions  on  any  questions  under  discussion,  but  shall  have  no  vote 
in  the  decisions  of  the  bodies  respectively  to  which  they  shall  be 
delegated. 

"3.  It  shall  be  deemed  irregular  for  any  Presbytery,  Conference,  or 
Association  within  the  bounds  of  the  corresponding  churches,  to  receive 
any  candidate  for  licensure,  licentiate,  or  ordained  minister,  into  connec 
tion  with  either,  without  regular  testimonials,  and  a  regular  dismission 
from  the  Presbytery,  Conference,  or  Association  from  which  the  said 
candidate,  licentiate,  or  minister  may  come. 

"4.  Each  of  the  bodies  forming  these  articles  of  correspondence  shall 
appoint  a  committee  for  certifying  the  good  standing  of  ministers  travel 
ling  from  the  one  to  the  other.  The  names  of  the  persons  composing 
these  committees  respectively,  shall  be  mutually  communicated  by  the 
two  bodies ;  and  it  shall  not  be  considered  as  a  matter  of  offence  if  a 
licentiate  or  ordained  minister,  from  either  body,  travelling  without  a 
certificate  of  regular  standing,  from  one  or  more  members  of  said  com 
mittee,  shall  not  be  received  or  treated  as  such. 

"  5.  It  shall  be  understood  that  these  articles  of  agreement  and  cor 
respondence  between  the  two  bodies  may  be,  at  any  time,  modified  by 
mutual  consent,  or  terminated,  when  either  body  shall  decide  and 
announce  that  they  are  no  longer  considered  as  answering  the  great 
purposes  intended  to  be  promoted  by  them,  and  that  their  termination 
is  desired."—  Minutes,  1828,  pp.  227,  228. 

"  The  delegate  from  the  General  Conference  of  Maine,  reported  that 
said  Conference  has  adopted  the  articles  of  union  and  correspondence 
proposed  by  the  last  General  Assembly,  with  the  exception  of  the  third 
article,  in  place  of  which,  they  propose  the  following,  viz. :  While  the 
General  Conference  of  Maine  has  not,  nor  does  it  claim  any  ecclesiastical 


XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHE?,   CHURCHES.  443 

t 

jurisdiction  over  the  particular  Conferences,  Associations,  Councils,  or 
churches  in  its  connection,  it  cheerfully  unites  *vith  the  General  Assem 
bly  in  the  expression  of  the  opinion,  that  it  is  irregular  for  any  ordained 
minister,  licentiate,  candidate  for  licensure,  or  church  member,  to  be 
received  into  ecclesiastical  connection  within  the  limits  of  one  of  the 
corresponding  bodies,  from  the  other,  without  due  testimonials."  [Ac 
cepted.]—  Minutes,  1829,  p.  255. 

12.    With  the  Evangelical  Consociation  of  Rhode  Island. 

"  The  Rev.  Isaac  Lewis  appeared  in  the  General  Assembly,  and  made 
application  on  behalf  of  the  Evangelical  Consociation  of  Rhode  Island, 
for  a  correspondence  with  the  General  Assembly  on  the  same  terms  with 
the  other  Congregational  bodies  of  New  England,  in  correspondence  with 
this  body.  This  subject  was  referred  to  Dr.  Miller,  Mr.  Squier,  and 
Mr.  Armstrong. 

"  The  committee  reported  that,  after  making  careful  inquiry  of  the 
delegate  concerning  the  faith,  order,  and  present  state  of  the  churches 
forming  the  body  which  he  represents,  they  would  respectfully  recom 
mend  to  the  Assembly  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolutions,  viz. : 

"1.  That  the  proposal  of  the  Evangelical  Consociation  of  Rhode 
Island  be  complied  with; 'and  that  a  plan  of  correspondence  between 
that  body  and  the  General  Assembly  be,  and  the  same  hereby  is  adopted, 
on  the  same  terms  which  regulate  the  correspondence  between  the 
General  Assembly  and  the  other  Congregational  bodies  of  New  England. 

"2.  That  there  be  an  annual  interchange  of  one  delegate  from  each 
to  the  other  respectively. 

"3.  That  the  Rev.  Isaac  Lewis,  the  bearer  of  this  proposal  from  the 
Consociation  of  Rhode  Island,  be  invited  to  take  his  seat  in  the  General 
Assembly  as  the  representative  of  that  body. 

"The  report  was  adopted."— Minutes,  1831,  pp.  319,  320. 

[In  1856,  the  Consociation  resolved  to  discontinue  the  correspondence. 
See  Minutes,  1857,  p.  426,  Appendix.] 

13.  Alteration  ashed  for  as  to  the  Right  to  Vote. 

"The  committee  appointed  to  draught  a  memorial  to  the  General 
Associations  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  and  the  General 
Convention  of  Vermont,  in  regard  to  some  changes  which  the  Assembly 


444  XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES. 

have  deemed  necessary  to  be  made  in  the  plan  of  correspondence  and 
intercourse  between  the  said  ecclesiastical  bodies  and  the  Assembly, 
reported  the  following  memorial  in  the  form  of  an  address  to  the  afore 
said  ecclesiastical  bodies,  which  was  adopted,  and  ordered  to  be  signed 
by  the  moderator,  viz. : 

"  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  the  General 
Associations  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  and  the  General 
Convention  of  Vermont. 

"  Christian  brethren,  beloved  in  the  Lord. 

"  It  appears  that,  in  the  plan  of  intercourse  between  the  Congregational 
churches  of  New  England,  and  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  an  article  was  adopted,  which  is  now  believed  to  be  inconsistent 
with  a  sound  construction  of  the  Constitution  of  the  latter  church.  This 
article,  it  is  due  to  truth  and  candor  to  remark,  was  proposed  by  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  without  any  overture  from  the  Congregational 
churches,  and  in  regard  to  which,  they  did  nothing  more  than  accede 
to  the  proposition  submitted  to  them.  The  article  to  which  we  allude, 
relates  to  the  powers  granted  to  the  delegates  of  the  corresponding 
churches,  to  vote  as  well  as  to  deliberate  on  the  various  subjects  that 
may  come  before  the  representatives  of  these  churches  respectively. 
The  right  of  voting  in  the  General  Assembly,  cannot,  it  is  believed,  be 
constitutionally  granted  to  any,  but  to  the  commissioners  appointed  by 
the  Presbyteries,  whose  representatives  compose  that  Assembly. 

"  We  have  therefore  respectfully  to  request,  that  the  plan  of  inter 
course  between  you  and  us  may  be  so  modified,  as  that  the  delegates  to 
each  body  may  hereafter  be  empowered  to  sit  and  deliberate  only,  but 
not  to  vote.  It  is  believed  that  the  modification  here  contemplated,  if 
it  shall  be  consented  to  on  your  part,  will  not  only  place  the  Assembly 
on  constitutional  ground,  but,  by  placing  your  Association  on  the  same 
footing  with  other  religious  communities  with  which  we  hold  a  friendly 
correspondence,  will  destroy  the  appearance  of  an  invidious  distinction 
which  now  exists,  and  thus  be  calculated  to  promote  extensively  that 
mutual  friendship  and  harmony  which  it  is  desirable  to  maintain  and 
perpetuate,  among  all  who  love  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

"  With  Christian  salutations. 

"  Signed  in  behalf  of  the  General  Assembly, 

"  FRANCIS  HERRON,  Moderator." 
—Minutes,  1827,  p.  213. 


XI.  -  CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES.  445 


14.  Replies  of  the  Associations. 

"  From  the  report  of  the  delegate  to  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont, 
it  appeared  that  the  memorial  of  the  last  Assembly  to  these  bodies  was 
laid  before  each  of  them  ;  and  that  the  General  Association  of  New 
Hampshire  have  adopted  the  proposition  in  the  memorial,  viz.,  that  the 
delegates  from  each  body  to  the  other  should  hereafter  sit  and  deliberate 
only,  but  not  vote  ;  and  that  the  General  Convention  of  Vermont  had 
committed  the  subject  to  a  committee,  which  are  to  report  to  the  next 
Convention. 

"  From  the  Minutes  of  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts, 
presented  to  the  Assembly,  it  appears  that  that  body  have  respectfully 
declined  adopting  the  alteration  proposed  in  the  memorial  of  the  Assem 
bly."—  Minutes,  1828,  p.  229. 

15.  Adoption  of  the  Rule  as  to  receiving  Candidates  urged  upon  the 
Associations. 

a.  "The  committee  appointed  to  consider  and  report  on  the  pro 
priety  of  proposing  to  the  General  Associations  of  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire,  and  the  General  Convention  of  Vermont,  the  adoption  of  the 
first  of  the  two  rules  proposed  by  the  last  Assembly  to  the  General  Associa 
tion  of  Connecticut,  reported,  that  they  view  the  adoption  of  said  rule  as 
necessary  to  the  peaceful  and  harmonious  correspondence  of  the  bodies 
concerned  ;  arid  would  therefore  recommend  that  the  delegates  appointed 
this  year  to  the  Associations  and  Conventions  above  named  be  instructed 
to  present  the  rule  referred  to  to  their  consideration. 

"  The  above  report  was  adopted. 

"  The  rule  referred  to  is  as  follows,  viz.  : 

"  That  it  shall  be  deemed  irregular  and  unfriendly  for  any  Presbytery 
or  Association,  within  the  bounds  of  the  corresponding  churches,  to 
receive  any  candidate  for  licensure,  licentiate,  or  ordained  minister,  into 
connection  with  either,  without  regular  testimonials,  and  a  regular  dis 
mission  from  the  Presbytery  or  Association  from  which  the  said  candidate, 
licentiate,  or  minister,  may  come."  —  Minutes,  1828,  p.  233. 

Z>.  "  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  a  motion  on  the  subject  of 
correspondence  with  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  made  a 
report,  which,  being  read  and  amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows, 
viz.  : 


446  XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES. 

"Resolved,  That  the  delegates  to  the  General  Association  of  Massa 
chusetts  be  instructed  to  inform  that  Association,  that  while  this  G  eneral 
Assembly  do  most  cordially  accept  and  approve  the  expression  of  their 
sentiments,  with  regard  to  candidates,  licentiates,  and  ministers  under 
censure  for  heresy  or  immorality,  they  do  also  most  respectfully  and 
affectionately  represent  to  the  Association,  that  they  deem  it  highly  im 
portant  that  it  should  be  considered  irregular  that  any  candidate,  licen 
tiate,  or  minister,  whose  credentials  are  withheld  on  account  of  the 
violation  of  ecclesiastical  order,  should  be  received  by  either  of  the  cor 
responding  bodies." — Minutes,  1829,  p.  274. 

16.  Reply  of  the  Association  of  Massachusetts. 

"  The  two  following  resolutions,  adopted  by  the  General  Association 
of  Massachusetts,  and  contained  in  the  report  of  the  delegates  to  that 
body,  were  approved  by  this  Assembly,  and  ordered  to  be  entered  on  the 
Minutes,  viz.  : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  this  Association,  having  learned  that  the  existing 
rule  of  intercourse  with  the  General  Assembly,  so  far  as  it  respects  the 
right 'of  voting  in  the  legislative  and  judicial  proceedings  of  that  body, 
transcends  the  power  vested  in  it,  do  waive  their  accustomed  privilege 
of  voting  by  their  delegates  in  said  body  in  such  proceedings ;  desiring 
that  as  much  of  the  same  reciprocal  intercourse,  which  has  for  a  series 
of  years  so  pleasantly  existed  between  said  bodies,  may  continue,  as  shall 
not  conflict  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  their  organization. 

"2.  That  this  Association  regret  that  their  proceedings,  on  the  sub 
ject  of  receiving  licentiates  and  candidates,  &c.,  at  the  last  meeting  of 
the  General  Association,  were  not  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  General 
Assembly.  On  the  broad  ground  of  heresy  and  immorality,  they  have 
no  hesitancy  in  expressing  their  opinion,  that  it  would  be  irregular  for 
either  body  to  receive  licentiates,  candidates,  and  ministers,  without  the 
usual  certificates  and  recommendations;  but  as  views  of  Christian  minis 
ters  on  the  subject  of  ecclesiastical  order  may  honestly  differ,  and  as  this 
Association  has  no  control,  either  legislative  or  judicial,  over  the  respec 
tive  Associations  of  which  it  is  composed,  they  can  only  refer  the  resolu 
tions  of  the  Assembly  on  this  subject  to  the  particular  consideration  of 
their  district  Associations,  with  the  fullest  confidence  that  on  questions 
of  l  ecclesiastical  order/  as  well  as  on  every  other  subject,  they  will  be 
disposed  to  meet  the  views  and  promote  the  interests  of  our  highly  re- 


XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES.  447 

spected  and  beloved  brethren  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." — Minutes, 

1830,  p.  283. 

17.  Minute  on  the  Correspondence  with  the  New  England  Churches. 

"Resolved,  That  this  General  Assembly  see  no  cause  either  to  termi 
nate  or  modify  the  plan  of  correspondence  with  the  Associations  of 
our  Congregational  brethren  in  New  England.  That  correspondence 
has  been  long  established.  It  is  believed  to  have  been  productive  of 
mutual  benefit.  It  is  now  divested  of  the  voting  power,  which  alone 
could  be  considered  as  infringing  the  Constitution  of  our  Church,  by  in 
troducing  persons  clothed  with  the  character  of  plenary  members  of  the 
Assembly.  It  stands  at  present  substantially  on  the  same  footing  with 
the  visits  Of  our  brethren  from  the  Congregational  Union  of  England 
and  Wales;  and  in  the  present  age  of  enlarged  counsel  and  of  combined 
effort  for  the  conversion  of  the  world,  ought  by  no  means  to  be  abolished. 
Besides,  the  Assembly  are  persuaded,  that  amidst  the  unceasing  and 
growing  intercourse  between  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
Churches,  it  is  desirable  to  have  that  intercourse  regulated  by  compact, 
and,  of  course,  that  it  would  be  desirable  to  introduce  terms  of  corre 
spondence,  even  if  they  did  not  already  exist/' — Minutes,  1835,  p.  487. 

18.    With  the  German  Reformed  Church. 

"Resolved,  That  Dr.  Ely,  Rev.  Timothy  Alden,  and  the  Rev.  John 
M.  Duncan,  be  a  committee  to  confer  with  a  committee  from  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Reformed  German  Church  of  North  America,  if  such  a 
committee  should  be  appointed  by  that  body,  on  the  subject  of  a  connec 
tion  by  correspondence  between  the  two  Churches,  and  to  make  a  report 
to  the  next  General  Assembly." — Minutes,  1823,  p.  87. 

"  The  consideration  of  the  report  on  a  correspondence  with  the  Ger 
man  Reformed  Synod  was  resumed. 

"After  mature  deliberation,  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  will  agree  to  an  ecclesiastical 
correspondence  with  the  German  Reformed  Synod  of  North  America,  on 
the  following  principles,  viz. : 

"  First.  The  Churches  are  to  remain  separate  and  independent. 

"  Second.  The  German  Reformed  Synod,  and  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  shall  each  appoint  one  minister  and  one 


448  XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES. 

elder,  with  an  alternate  of  each,  or  two  ministers,  with  their  alternates, 
as  either  may  wish,  to  sit  in  these  judicatories  respectively,  with  the 
privilege  of  deliberating  on  all  subjects  that  may  come  before  them. 

"The  Rev.  Robert  Cathcart,  D.D.,  and  the  Rev.  Alexander  Boyd 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  lay  the  above  articles  of  correspondence 
before  the  German  Reformed  Synod  at  their  next  meeting,  and  when 
adopted  by  that  body,  the  correspondence  shall  be  considered  as  estab 
lished/'—  Minutes,  1824,  p.  102. 

"  Adopted  by  the  Synod."— Minutes,  1825,  p.  135. 

19.    With  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 

"The  Committee  on  Correspondence  with  Foreign  Bodies  made  a 
report  on  the  subject  of  correspondence  with  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church,  recommending  that  a  delegate  be  appointed  to  attend  their  next 
meeting,  and  also  to  open  a  correspondence  with  them." 

[Adopted,  page  22.]— Minutes,  1843,  pp.  20,  22. 

"  The  Committee  on  Church  Polity  presented  the  following  report, 
which  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"  The  Assembly  have  received  with  great  pleasure  the  Rev.  H.  N. 
Pohlman,  D.D.,  a  delegate  from  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  and 
fully  reciprocate  the  kind  sentiments  contained  in  the  minutes  of  the  last 
meeting  of  their  Synod  ]  and  do,  on  the  principles  of  action  between  the 
Assembly  and  other  corresponding  bodies,  cordially  adopt,  and  recom 
mend  for  adoption  by  our  inferior  judicatories,  the  plan  of  correspond 
ence  proposed  by  the  delegate,  and  unanimously  adopted  by  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church." — Minutes,  1846,  pp. 
16,  17. 

20.  With  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  The  committee  appointed  by  the  last  Assembly,  on  the  subject  of  a 
correspondence  with  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  presented  a 
report,  which  was  accepted,  and  the  following  article,  agreed  upon  by 
the  committee  of  the  two  bodies,  was  unanimously  adopted : 

"  The  General  Assembly  of  each  church  shall  appoint  and  receive 
delegates  from  the  General  Assembly  of  the  other  church,  who  shall  be 
possessed  of  all  the  powers  and  privileges  of  other  members  of  such 
Assemblies,  except  that  of  voting." — Minutes,  1849;  p.  184. 


XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES.  449 

21.   With  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  Convention  of 
Wisconsin. 

"  On  recommendation  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  with 
Foreign  Bodies,  it  was — 

"Resolved,  That  delegates  be  appointed  to  attend  the  Presbyterian 
and  Congregational  Convention  of  Wisconsin." — Minutes,  1843,  p.  22. 

22.   With  the  General  Association  of  Ncio  YorJc. 

a.  "  It  was  unanimously — 

"Resolved,  That  a  delegate  be  appointed  to  attend  the  next  meeting  ' 
of  the  General  Association  of  New  York." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  171. 

b.  "  The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church  made  a  report  on 
the  subject  of  correspondence  with  the  General  Association  of  New 
York,  as  follows : 

"  That,  from  the  position  in  which  that  body,  and  a  large  portion  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  are  placed,  in  respect  to  each  other,  it  is  natural 
that  a  spirit  of  rivalry  should  exist  between  them ;  and  that  this  should 
engender  a  spirit  of  proselytism,  which  appears  to  have  been  manifested, 
in  a  degree,  in  some  of  the  past  action  of  the  Association,  which,  we 
hope,  will  not  be  persisted  in  on  their  part,  and  which,  we  trust,  will 
never  characterize  the  action  of  our  Church.  We  are  brethren  of  the 
same  family,  have  the  same  Lord,  the  same  faith,  the  same  baptism,  and 
the  same  great  ends  in  view,  and  should  live  together  in  the  strictest 
bonds  of  holy  fellowship  and  union ;  striving  together  for  the  advance 
ment  of  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  Whether 
an  individual  church  chooses  to  administer  the  discipline  in  the  Presby 
terian  or  Congregational  way,  is  comparatively  a  matter  of  minor  concern. 
Let  each  be  persuaded  in  his  own  mind,  and  not  interfere  with  the 
rights  of  his  brother. 

"  We  recommend  that  the  correspondence  be  continued,  and  hope 
that  it  may  be  so  conducted  as  to  prove  mutually  satisfactory,  and  pro- 
motive  of  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  our  dear  Redeemer.. 

"The  report  was  adopted/'— Minutes,  1851,  p.  22. 

c.  "  The  committee  upon  the  communication  from  the  delegate  of  tie- 
New  York  Association  made  their  report,  which,  after  amendment,  was 
adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  Whereas,  The  General  Association  of  New  York,  at  their  meeting 

29 


450  XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES. 

in  Madrid,  held  August  23d,  1854,  by  resolution  forwarded  to  this 
body,  have  addressed  us  in  a  discourteous  and  objectionable  manner; 
therefore — 

"Resolved,  That  the  Assembly  would  respectfully  request  that  the 
future  communications  of  the  Association  to  us  be  couched  in  courteous 
language/' — Minutes,  1855,  p.  35. 

The  Right  to  Review  Proceedings,  Reprove,  or  Relulcc,  disavoiued  and 

denied. 

d.  "The  Committee  on  the  Correspondence  between  the  General  As 
sembly  and  the  General  Association  of  New  York  presented  a  report, 
which,  having  been  read,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows : 

"  The  committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  question  of  the  ecclesias 
tical  relations  of  this  Assembly  with  the  General  Association  of  New 
York,  report : 

"  That  they  understand  that  our  Congregational  brethren  of  New 
York,  by  their  resolution  communicated  to  the  General  Assembly  at 
St.  Louis,  and  by  the  statements  of  their  delegate  on  the  floor  of  this 
Assembly,  affirm,  that  one  of  the  reasons  for  continuing  their  correspon 
dence  with  this  Assembly  is,  that  they  may  reprove  and  rebuke  them 
for  not  doing  what  is  deemed  a  proper  duty,  or  for  doing  what  may  by 
the  Association  be  deemed  improper. 

"  To  such  a  position  the  committee  can  give  no  assent.  The  frater 
nal  intercourse  and  interchange  of  delegates  are  for  entirely  different 
purposes.  They  have  not  been,  and  cannot  be,  maintained  upon  such 
grounds.  We  correspond  for  the  purpose  of  co-operating  in  the  great 
work  in  which  we  are  mutually  engaged.  The  modus  operandi  belongs 
exclusively  to  each.  What  may  or  may  not  be  done  by  either  body,  in 
the  prosecution  of  its  legitimate  business,  and  in  carrying  forward  its  own 
work,  not  affecting  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  others,  is  not  a  subject 
of  censure  or  rebuke;  and  the  holding  of  such  correspondence,  with  a 
view  to  the  exercise  of  such  censure,  is  a  manifest  breach  of  that  comity 
which  is  indispensable  to  the  proper  intercourse  of  two  ecclesiastical 
bodies  of  equal  standing. 

"  Your  committee  therefore  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following 
resolution : 

"Resolved,  That  our  delegate  to  that  Association,  while  expressing 
the  wishes  of  this  Assembly  to  maintain  Christian  and  fraternal  fellow- 


XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES.  451 

ship,  and  the  free  interchange  of  a  correspondence  with  our  Congrega 
tional  brethren,  be  instructed  to  state  to  our  brethren  that  we  can  admit 
no  right  of  theirs,  by  virtue  of  that  correspondence,  to  review  our  pro 
ceedings,  or  to  reprove  or  rebuke  us  for  what  we  may  or  may  not  do. 

"  We  do  not  claim  or  propose  the  exercise  of  any  such  right  on  the 
part  of  this  Assembly/'— Minutes,  1856,  p.  212. 

[Since  1855,  no  delegate  has  been  appointed  by  the  Assembly.] 

23.    The  Terms  of  Correspondence. 

"  Whereas,  Several  of  the  Associations  in  correspondence  with  this 
body,  have  requested  the  views  of  this  Assembly  on  the  terms  of  cor 
respondence,  especially  in  regard  to  the  right  of  reproof  and  rebuke, 
therefore — 

"Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  have  never  intended  to  refuse 
to  corresponding  bodies  any  rights  or  privileges  which  are  compatible 
with  true  delicacy,  courtesy,  and  Christian  charity  j  in  the  light  of  which, 
this  body  respectfully  requests  all  corresponding  bodies  to  interpret  all 
past  acts  of  the  Assembly." — Minutes,  1857,  p.  408. 

24.  With  the  Union  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  of  f ranee. 

"  The  committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  communication  from  the 
Union  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  of  France,  presented  a  report,  recom 
mending  the  draft  of  a  reply  to  their  letter,  and  several  resolutions, 
which  were  adopted,  and  are  as  follows : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  this  General  Assembly  do  hereby  cordially  assent 
to  the  request  of  the  brethren  of  the  Union  of  the  Evangelical  Churches 
of  France,  to  enter  into  correspondence  with  them/' — Minutes,  1854, 
p.  510. 

25.    With  the  "Reformed"  and  "Associate  Reformed"  Churches. 

a.  "The  Rev.  Andrew  W.  Black,  D.D.,  presented  his  credentials  as 
a  delegate  from  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church 
in  North  America ;  his  name  was  entered  on  the  roll,  and  the  Assembly 
proceeded  to  hear  his  statements,  and  the  terms  of  correspondence  pro 
posed  by  the  General  Synod ;  which  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
the  Polity  of  the  Church. 


452  XI. — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   OTHER   CHURCHES. 

"  The  same  committee  were  directed  to  inquire  into  the  expediency 
of  entering  into  correspondence  with  the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church."— Minutes,  1857,  p.  386. 

Z>.  "  The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church,  to  whom  was  re 
ferred  the  terms  of  correspondence  with  the  General  Synod  of  the  Re 
formed  Presbyterian  Church  in  North  America,  made  a  report,  which 
was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church  in  North  America,  shall  each  appoint  a  minister  with  an  alter 
nate,  to  sit  in  the  highest  judicatories  respectively,  with  the  privilege  of 
deliberating  on  all  subjects  coming  before  them,  and  of  making  sugges 
tions  on  matters  affecting  the  interests  of  both  bodies  mutually,  or  per 
taining  to  the  several  interests  of  religion,  but  not  of  voting. 

"  The  ministers,  members,  and  judicatories  of  these  churches,  treating 
each  other  with  Christian  respect,  shall  always  recognize  the  validity  of 
each  other's  acts  and  ordinances  consonant  to  the  word  of  God ;  it  being 
understood,  that  any  ecclesiastical  judicatory  belonging  to  either  body 
may  examine  persons,  or  review  cases  of  discipline,  on  points  at  present 
peculiar  or  distinctive  to  themselves  respectively. 

"The  same  committee  also  recommended  that  a  correspondence  on 
the  same  terms  be  opened  with  the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Re 
formed  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States,  and  that  a  delegate 
and  alternate  be  appointed  to  attend  their  next  meeting. 

"  Their  report  was  adopted/' — Minutes,  1857,  p.  394. 

26.  Expenses  of  Delegates  to  Corresponding  Bodies. 

a.  "  Resolved,  That  the  delegates  to  the  General  Association  of  Con 
necticut  be  allowed  two  dollars  per  day,  during  their  attendance  with 
the  Association,  and  at  the  rate  of  two  dollars  for  every  forty  miles  in 
going  and  returning ;  which  sums  the  treasurer  is  hereby  ordered  to 
pay  out  of  the  funds  of  the  Assembly." — Minutes,  1796,  p.  108. 

[This  was  made  general  as  correspondence  was  opened  with  other 
churches.  Minutes,  1811,  p.  470,  &c.] 

b.  "  The  rule  on  the  compensation  of  delegates  to  corresponding  bodies 
(see  Digest  of  1820,  p.  308,  as  above)  was  amended,  by  adding  to  it  the 
words,  '  not  exceeding  their  necessary  travelling  expenses." — Minutes, 
1849,  p.  172. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  PLAN  OF  UNION  AND  THE  DIVISION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 
SECTION  1. — THE  PLAN  OF  UNION. 

1.  Original  proposition  by  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut. — 2.  Plan  di 
gested  and  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly. — 3.  Resolution  declaring  any 
change  inexpedient  and  undesirable. — 4.  Resolutions  to  request  the  Association 
to  consent  to  annul  the  Plan  of  Union. — 5.  The  Plan  of  Union  declared  to  be 
abrogated. 

1.    Original  Proposition  by  the  Association  of  Connecticut. 

"  A  communication  was  read  from  the  General  Association  of  the 
State  of  Connecticut,  appointing  a  committee  to  confer  with  a  committee 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  consider  the  measures  proper  to  be 
adopted  by  the  General  Association  and  the  General  Assembly,  for 
establishing  an  uniform  system  of  Church  government,  between  the 
inhabitants  of  the  new  settlements,  who  are  attached  to  the  Presbyterian 
form  of  government,  and  those  who  prefer  the  Congregational  form. 

il  Ordered,  That  said  communication  lie  on  the  table." 

[It  was  as  follows  :] 

"  The  Rev.  John  Smalley,  Levi  Hart,  and  Samuel  Blatchford,  are 
hereby  appointed  a  committee  of  this  General  Association,  to  confer  with 
a  committee  to  be  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyte 
rian  Church,  if  they  see  cause  to  appoint  such  committee,  to  consider 
the  measures  proper  to  be  adopted  both  by  this  Association  and  the  said 
Assembly,  to  prevent  alienation,  to  promote  harmony,  and  to  establish, 
as  far  as  possible,  an  uniform  system  of  Church  government,  between 
those  inhabitants  of  the  new  settlements  who  are  attached  to  the  Pres 
byterian  form  of  Church  government,  and  those  who  are  attached  to  the 
Congregational  form,  and  to  make  report  to  this  Association.  Any  two 
of  the  said  committee  are  hereby  empowered  to  act. 


454  XII. — PLAN   OF   UNION. 

"Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  proposals  be  transmitted  to 
the  said  General  Assembly,  and  that  they  be  respectfully  requested  by 
the  moderator  of  this  General  Association  to  concur  in  the  measure  now 
proposed. 

"  By  order  of  the  committee. 

"NATHAN  WILLIAMS,  Chairman. 
"  A  true  copy. 

"  Attest :  WM.  LYMAN,  Assistant  Scribe." 

—Minutes,  1801,  p.  212. 


2.  Plan  adopted  l>y  the  General  Assembly. 

"  The  Rev.  Drs.  Edwards,  McKnight,  and  Woodtmll,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Blatchford,  and  Mr.  Hutton,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  and 
digest  a  plan  of  government  for  the  churches  in  the  new  settlements, 
agreeably  to  the  proposals  of  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  and 
report  the  same  as  soon  as  convenient." 

"  The  report  of  the  committee  appointed  to  consider  and  digest  a  plan 
of  government  for  the  churches  in  the  new  settlements  was  taken  up 
and  considered,  and,  after  mature  deliberation  on  the  same,  approved,  as 
follows  : 

li  Regulations  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  America,  and  by  the  General  Association  of  the  State  of 
Connecticut  (provided  said  Association  agree  to  them),  with  a  view  to 
prevent  alienation,  and  to  promote  union  and  harmony  in  those  new 
settlements  which  are  composed  of  inhabitants  from  these  bodies  : 

"  1.  It  is  strictly  enjoined  on  all  their  missionaries  to  the  new  settle 
ments,  to  endeavor,  by  all  proper  means,  to  promote  mutual  forbearance 
and  a  spirit  of  accommodation  between  those  inhabitants  of  the  new  set 
tlements  who  hold  the  Presbyterian,  and  those  who  hold  the  Congrega 
tional  form  of  Church  government. 

"  2.  If  in  the  new  settlements  any  church  of  the  Congregational 
order  shall  settle  a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  order,  that  church  may, 
if  they  choose,  still  conduct  their  discipline  according  to  Congregational 
principles,  settling  their  difficulties  among  themselves,  or  by  a  council 
mutually  agreed  upon  for  that  purpose.  But  if  any  difficulty  shall  exist 
between  the  minister  and  the  church,  or  any  member  of  it,  it  shall  be 
referred  to  the  Presbytery  to  which  the  minister  shall  belong,  provided 
both  parties  agree  to  it;  if  not,  to  a  council,  consisting»of  an  equal 
number  of  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists,  agreed  upon  by  both 
parties. 


XII. — PLAN   OF   UNION.  455 

"3.  If  a  Presbyterian  church  shall  settle  a  minister  of  Congregational 
principles,  that  church  may  still  conduct  their  discipline  according  to 
Presbyterian  principles,  excepting  that  if  a  difficulty  arise  between  him 
and  his  church,  or  any  member  of  it,  the  cause  shall  be  tried  by  the 
Association  to  which  the  said  minister  shall  belong,  provided  both  parties 
agree  to  it ;  otherwise  by  a  council,  one-half  Congregationalists  and  the 
other  Presbyterians,  mutually  agreed  upon  by  the  parties. 

"  4.  If  any  congregation  consist  partly  of  those  who  hold  the  Congre 
gational  form  of  discipline,  and  partly  of  those  who  hold  the  Presbyte 
rian  form,  we  recommend  to  both  parties  that  this  be  no  obstruction  to 
their  uniting  in  one  church  and  settling  a  minister;  and  that  in  this 
case  the  church  choose  a  standing  committee  from  the  communicants  of 
said  church,  whose  business  it  shall  be  to  call  to  account  every  member 
of  the  church  who  shall  conduct  himself  inconsistently  with  the  laws  of 
Christianity,  and  to  give  judgment  on  such  conduct.  That  if  the  per 
son  condemned  by  their  judgment  be  a  Presbyterian,  he  shall  have 
liberty  to  appeal  to  the  Presbytery ;  if  he  be  a  Congregationalist,  he 
shall  have  liberty  to  appeal  to  the  body  of  the  male  communicants  of  the 
church.  In  the  former  case,  the  determination  of  the  Presbytery  shall 
be  final,  unless  the  church  shall  consent  to  a  further  appeal  to  the  Synod, 
or  to  the  General  Assembly ;  and  in  the  latter  case,  if  the  party  con 
demned  shall  wish  for  a  trial  by  a  mutual  council,  the  cause  shall  be 
referred  to  such  a  council.  And  provided  the  said  standing  committee 
of  any  church  shall  depute  one  of  themselves  to  attend  the  Presbytery, 
he  may  have  the  same  right  to  sit  and  act  in  the  Presbytery  as  a  ruling- 
elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church." — Minutes,  1801,  pp.  221,  224,  225. 

"  Unanimously  adopted  by  the  Association." — Minutes,  1802,  p.  237. 

3.  Inexpedient  and  undesirable  to  interfere  with  the  Plan. 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  deemed  inexpedient  and  undesirable  to  abrogate 
or  interfere  with  the  Plan  of  Union  between  Presbyterians  and  Congre 
gationalists  in  the  new  settlements,  adopted  in  1801." — Minutes,  1834, 
p.  440. 

4.  Resolutions  to  request  the  Association  to  consent  to  annul  the  "Plan 

of  Union.'" 

-  "  Resolved  j   That  this  Assembly  deem  it  no  longer  desirable  that 
churches  should  be  formed  in  our  Presbyterian  connection  agreeably  to 


456  xn. — PLAN  OF  UNION 

the  Plan  adopted  by  the  Assembly  and  the  General  Association  of  Con 
necticut,  in  1801.  Therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  our  brethren  of  the  General  Association  of  Connec 
ticut  be,  and  they  hereby  are,  respectfully  requested  to  consent  that  said 
Plan  shall  be,  from  and  after  the  next  meeting  of  that  Association,  de 
clared  to  be  annulled.  And 

"Resolved,  That  the  annulling  of  said  Plan  shall  not  in  anywise  inter 
fere  with  the  existence  and  lawful  operations  of  churches  which  have 
been  already  formed  on  this  Plan." — Minutes,  1835,  p.  486. 

5.   The  Plan  of  Union  declared  to  be  Abrogated. 
[See  Sec.  2,  1,  below.] 

SECTION  2. — THE  EXSCINDING  ACTS  or  1837. 

1.  The  "Plan  of  Union"  declared  to  be  abrogated,  on  the  ground  of  its  unconstitu- 
tionality. — 2.  Protest  against  the  abrogation  of  the  Plan. — 3.  Answer  to  the 
protest. — 4.  Resolutions  to  cite  to  the  bar  of  the  Assembly  such  inferior  judica 
tures  as  are  charged  by  common  fame  with  irregularities. — 5.  Protest  against 
the  foregoing  resolutions. — 6.  Answer  to  the  protest. — 7.  Proposal  to  inquire  into 
the  expediency  of  a  voluntary  division  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. — 8.  Com 
mittee  of  ten  appointed. — 9.  Report  of  the  committee  of  the  majority. — 10. 
Report  of  the  committee  of  the  minority. — 11.  The  Synod  of  the  Western  Re 
serve  declared  to  be  no  longer  a  part  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States. — 12.  The  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva,  and  Genesee  declared  out  of  the 
ecclesiastical  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church. — 13.  Protest  of  the 
commissioners  of  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve. — 14.  Answer  to  the  pro 
test. — 15.  Protest  of  the  commissioners  of  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva,  and 
Genesee. — 16.  Answer  to  the  protest. — 17.  Dissolution  of  the  Third  Presbytery 
of  Philadelphia. — ]  8.  Protest  against  the  dissolution. — 19.  Answer  to  the  protest. 

1.  Plan  of  Union  declared  to  be  Abrogated. 

"The  Assembly  proceeded  to  the  order  of  the  day,  viz.,  that  part  of 
the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Overture  No.  1,  which  relates  to  the 
'Plan  of  Union/  adopted  in  1801. 

"  The  report  was  read  and  adopted,  in  part,  as  follows,  viz. : 

"In  regard  to  the  relation  existing  between  the  Presbyterian  and 
Congregational  Churches,  the  committee  recommend  the  adoption  of  the 
following  resolutions : 

"  1.  That  between  these  two  branches  of  the  American  Church,  there 


ABROGATED.  457 

ought,  in  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  to  be  maintained  sentiments 
of  mutual  respect  and  esteem,  and  for  that  purpose  no  reasonable  efforts 
should  be  omitted  to  preserve  a  perfectly  good  understanding  between 
these  branches  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

"  2.  That  it  is  expedient  to  continue  the  plan  of  friendly  intercourse, 
between  this  Church  and  the  Congregational  Churches  of  New  England, 
as  it  now  exists/' — Minutes,  1837,  p.  419. 

"3.  But  as  the  'Plan  of  Union'  adopted  for  the  new  settlements,  in 
1801,  was  originally  an  unconstitutional  act  on  the  part  of  that  Assem 
bly — these  important  standing  rules  having  never  been  submitted  to  the 
Presbyteries — and  as  they  were  totally  destitute  of  authority  as  proceed 
ing  from  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  which  is  invested  with 
no  power  to  legislate  in  such  cases,  and  especially  to  enact  laws  to  regu 
late  churches  not  within  her  limits ;  and  as  much  confusion  and  irregu 
larity  have  arisen  from  this  unnatural  and  unconstitutional  system  of 
union,  therefore  it  is  resolved,  that  the  Act  of  the  Assembly  of  1801, 
entitled  i  A  Plan  of  Union,'  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  abrogated." 
[Yeas,  143;  nays,  110.]— Ibid.  p.  421. 

2.  Protest  against  the  Abrogation. 

"  The  undersigned,  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  respectfully 
present  the  following  protest  against  the  resolution  of  said  Assembly, 
adopted  on  the  23d  ult.,  abrogating  the  Act  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  1801,  entitled  t  A  Plan  of  Union,'  &c.,  and  for  the  following  reasons, 
viz.  : 

"1.  Because  the  said  act  is  declared,  in  the  resolution  complained  of, 
to  have  been  unconstitutional.  The  utmost  that  can  be  said  on  this 
subject  is,  that  it  is  an  act  neither  specifically  provided  for,  nor  pro 
hibited,  in  the  Constitution.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  affirmed  to  be 
contrary  to  the  Constitution. 

"  The  Constitution  provides,  that  before  any  constitutional  rules  pro 
posed  by  the  General  Assembly  to  be  established,  shall  be  obligatory  on 
all  the  churches,  the  approval  of  them  by  a  majority  of  Presbyteries  must 
be  first  obtained.  (Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  6.)  The  act 
of  the  Assembly  adopting  the  Plan  of  Union,  it  is  admitted,  was  not 
previously  transmitted  to  the  Presbyteries  for  their  approval.  It  does  not 
therefore  follow,  however,  that  that  act  was  unconstitutional ;  because 
the  provisions  of  the  Plan  of  Union  were,  neither  in  fact,  nor  ever  re 
garded  by  any  of  the  Presbyteries  as  '  constitutional  rules,'  'to  be  obliga 
tory  on  all  the  churches.'  They  were  the  mere  terms  of  an  agreement, 
or  treaty,  between  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 


458  XII. — PLAN   OF   UNION 

and  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  and  through  that  Associa 
tion  with  all  the  churches  which  have  been  formed  according  to  the 
terms  of  that  treaty. 

"In  the  act  of  the  Assembly  adopting  that  Plan  of  Union,  the  General 
Assembly  being  constitutionally  *  the  bond  of  union,  peace,  correspon 
dence,  and  mutual  confidence,  among  all  our  churches'  (Form  of  Govern 
ment,  chap,  xii,  sec.  4),  merely  exercised  its  legitimate  functions, 
agreeably  to  the  Constitution  (Form  of  Government,  chap,  i,  sec.  2),  in 
declaring  'the  terms  of  admission  into  the  communion'  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church,  proper  to  be  required  on  the  frontier  settlements,  and  in 
this  light  the  entire  Presbyterian  Church  has  so  regarded  this  Plan  of 
Union  from  its  adoption  up  to  the  present  time,  when  the  abrogation  of 
it  is  publicly  declared  by  the  advocates  of  the  measure  to  be  necessary 
for  the  acquisition  and  perpetuation  of  power  to  accomplish  the  ends 
avowed  and  sought  by  the  minority  of  the  last  General  Assembly,  and 
prosecuted  by  means  of  a  convention,  called  at  their  instance,  and  holding 
its  sessions  cotemporaneously  with  those  of  the  Assembly.  For  the 
following  facts  are  undeniable,  viz.  :  1.  That  the  Plan  of  Union  now  de 
clared  to  be  unconstitutional  was  formed  TWENTY  YEARS  before  the 
adoption  of  the  present  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  2. 
That  this  Plan,  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  was  in 
full  and  efficient  operation,  and  of  acknowledged  authority  as  common 
law  in  the  Church.  3.  That  it  had  been  recognized  and  respected  in 
numerous  precedents,  in  the  doings  of  the  General  Assembly,  from  year 
to  year;  and  4.  That  for  SIXTEEN  YEARS  since  the  adoption  of  this 
Constitution,  it  has  been  regarded  of  equal  authority  with  any  act  what 
ever  to  which  the  General  Assembly  is  constitutionally  competent. 

"  Had  the  Plan  of  Union,  and  the  act  of  the  General  Assembly 
adopting  it,  been  regarded  as  unconstitutional  and  null,  as  being  either 
an  assumption  of  power  not  granted,  or  a  trespass  on  the  rights  of  Pres 
byteries,  some  remonstrance  or  objection  to  the  imposition  of  constitu 
tional  rules  for  the  government  of  all  the  churches,  not  legitimately 
enacted,  would  have  been  heard  from  some  quarter  before  the  lapse  of 
one-third  of  a  century.  Had  the  Plan  of  Union  been  thought  illegal, 
or  had  it  been  designed  or  desired  by  the  Presbyteries  in  1821,  when 
the  Constitution  was  revised,  amended,  and  adopted  by  them  a  second 
time,  to  frustrate  or  resist  the  operation  of  this  Plan,  unquestionably 
either  the  revised  and  amended  Constitution  would  have  embodied  in  it 
some  provision  against  it,  or  some  attempt  at  least  would  have  been  made 
to  that  effect.  The  truth  is  that  the  Plan  of  Union  adopted  by  the 
General  Assembly  was  felt  to  be  morally  binding,  as  a  solemn  agreement 
or  treaty  duly  ratified  by  the  power  constitutionally  competent  to  do  so, 
and  by  no  means  the  enactment  of  constitutional  rules,  to  be  '  obligatory 
on  all  the  churches'  for  their  government. 

"  It  is  to  no  purpose,  in  our  opinion,  to  allege  the  unconstitutionally 
of  the  Plan  of  Union,  by  pleading,  that  for  a  church  to  be  regarded  as  a 
Presbyterian  church,  it  must,  according  to  our  Constitution,  be  organ- 


ABROGATED.  459 

ized  with  ruling  elders,  while  that  Plan  provides  for  the  organization  of 
churches,  in  certain  cases,  without  such  officers ;  because  the  Plan  of 
Union  designedly  contemplates  a  process  which  the  Assembly  was  con 
stitutionally  competent  to  prescribe,  and  which  the  entire  Church  had 
approved,  by  which  churches  on  the  frontier  settlements  may  be  organ 
ized,  partially,  at  first,  on  the  Presbyterian  ground,  and  be  gradually 
brought  fully  on  to  it ;  and  because,  if  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution, 
prescribing  the  full  form  of  organization  proper  for  a  Presbyterian 
church,  must  in  every  case  be  minutely  and  completely  observed,  and 
any  deviation  from  it  should  vitiate  the  organization,  then  must  those 
numerous  churches  among  us  in  •which  there  are  no  deacons  be,  for  the 
same  reason,  pronounced  unconstitutional. 

"  The  attempt,  too,  to  prove  the  unconstitutionally  of  the  act  of  the 
Assembly  adopting  the  Plan  of  Union,  by  attributing  to  the  provisions 
of  that  Plan  the  character  of  constitutional  rules  obligatory  on  all  the 
churches,  and  by  objecting  that  the  Presbyteries  had  not  been  previously 
consulted,  strikes  as  directly,  and  is  as  conclusive,  against  the  plans 
adopted  for  the  organization  and  government  of  the  Theological  Semi 
naries  at  Princeton  and  Alleghany,  of  the  Boards  of  Education  and  of 
Missions,  and  for  the  union  and  perpetuated  existence  of  the  Presby 
teries  belonging  to  the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church, 
who  were  admitted  into  communion  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  by 
the  terms  of  a  Plan  of  Union  agreed  upon  between  that  Synod  and  the 
General  Assembly;  for  the  provisions  of  these  plans  have  never  been 
transmitted  to  the  Presbyteries  for  their  approval.  If,  therefore,  the 
Plan  of  Union  with  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  is  to  be 
abrogated  because  of  alleged  unconstitutionally  on  these  grounds,  so 
must  be  the  rules  and  regulations  and  the  whole  organization  and 
government  of  the  theological  seminaries  of  the  General  Assembly,  and 
also  the  act  of  the  Assembly  by  which  the  Presbyteries  of  the  Associate 
Reformed  Synod  were  united  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  these 
United  States,  and  by  which  the  General  Assembly  became  possessed  of 
the  valuable  theological  library  known  as  the  Mason  library,  now  in 
Princeton,  and  formerly  belonging  to  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod. 

"'2.  We  protest  against  the  resolution  referred  to,  because  the  Plan 
of  Union  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1801,  was  designed  to 
suppress  and  prevent  schismatical  contentionsy,and  for  the  promotion  of 
charity,  or,  in  the  language  of  the  Plan  itself,  'with  a  view  to  prevent 
alienation  and  promote  union  and  harmony/  which,  through  a  long 
series  of  years,  it  has  been  efficient  in  doing,  and  has  proved  both  itself 
efficacious  to  do  and  the  wisdom  of  the  Assembly  in  its  projection  and 
adoption;  both  which  ends  the  General  Assembly  is  constitutionally 
competent  to  design,  and  for  which  it  is  invested  with  ample  authority 
by  the  Constitution  (Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  5),  and  held 
responsible  by  the  great  Head  of  the  Church. 

"  o.  "We  protest  against  the  resolution  referred  to,  because  it  declares 
the  said  Plan  of  Union  to  have  been  l  totally  destitute  of  authority  as 


460  xii. — PLAN  or  UNION 

proceeding  from  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  which  is  in 
vested  with  no  power  to  legislate  in  such  cases/  Even  on  the  assump 
tion  that  the  said  Association  was  invested  with  no  such  power — which, 
it  seems  to  us,  both  indecorous  and  irrelevant  for  this  General  Assembly 
to  assert  as  a  reason  for  the  resolution  adopted — we  cannot  doubt  that 
that  Association  had  full  power  to  agree  to  the  stipulations  of  a  treaty 
or  contract  proposed  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  urged  on  the  accep 
tance  of  the  General  Association  ;  and  especially  when  it  is  considered, 
that,  by  acceding  to  the  said  stipulations,  the  said  Association  relin 
quished  whatever  right  it  had  to  the  direction  and  regulation  of  the 
members  of  its  own  churches  in  the  new  settlements,  and  allowed  and 
influenced  them  to  increase,  both  the  numbers  and  the  pecuniary  and 
spiritual  strength  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  And  even  if  the  Plan 
referred  to  had  not  authority  in  so  far  as  it  emanated  from  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut,  which  we  by  no  means  admit,  it  was  unques 
tionably  binding  on  the  General  Assembly,  by  virtue  of  its  own  engage 
ment,  to  fulfil  its  own  obligations;  and  after  numerous  churches  had 
been  formed  under  their  own  care,  the  obligations  of  the  Plan  appear  to 
us  to  have  been  common  to  the  General  Assembly,  the  General  Associa 
tion  of  Connecticut,  and  the  churches,  Presbyteries,  and  Synods  formed 
in  pursuance  and  in  the  faith  of  it,  and  that  no  one  of  these  bodies  could 
lawfully  abrogate  it  without  the  consent  of  all  the  others.  Our  opinion 
therefore  is,  that  the  resolution  of  this  General  Assembly,  abrogating  the 
said  Plan  of  Union,  so  far  as  it  was  intended  to  affect  churches  already 
formed  under  its  provisions,  is  a  breach  of  faith,  and  wholly  void  and  of 
no  effect ;  that  all  such  churches  have  a  right  to  continue  their  organiza 
tion  on  the  conditions  of  the  said  Plan ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Presbyteries,  the  Synods,  and  all  future  General  Assemblies,  to  protect 
them  in  that  right,  until  they  shall  voluntarily,  under  the  kind  and 
conciliatory  influence  of  the  aforesaid  bodies,  adopt  the  Presbyterian 
organization  in  full,  as  many  of  them  have  already  done,  and  others,  we 
are  happy  to  learn,  will  probably  soon  do,  if  allowed  to  exercise  their 
choice,  unrestrained  by  the  attempted  exercise  of  assumed  authority. 

"  4.  We  protest  against  the  said  resolution,  because  it  denominates 
the  Plan  of  Union  unnatural,  as  well  as  unconstitutional,  and  attributes 
to  it  much  confusion  and  irregularity ;  whereas,  it  appears  to  us  to  have 
been  a  most  natural,  wise,  and  benevolent  plan  for  promoting  the  unity, 
increase,  arid  purity  of  the  Church  in  our  new  settlements,  and  that  its 
operation  for  thirty-six  years,  with  but  such  occasional  irregularities  as 
may  occur  under  any  system  of  government,  has,  on  the  whole,  been  pro 
ductive  of  benign  and  happy  effects ;  in  view  of  which,  this  General 
Assembly  and  the  whole  Church  ought  to  cherish  sincere  and  devout 
gratitude  to  God. 

"  5.  We  protest  against  the  said  resolution,  because  the  mode  in 
which  it  was  brought  before  the  Assembly  appears  to  us  to  have  been 
exceedingly  exceptionable,  it  having  been  in  substance  proposed  in  the 
memorial  of  a  convention,  of  whose  alleged  cause  and  objects,  and  of 


ABROGATED.  461 

most  of  whose  declarations,  because  unaccompanied  with  satisfactory 
proof,  we  wholly  disapprove,  and  which  memorial,  as  corning  from  such 
a  body,  we  think  this  Assembly  ought  not  to  have  received  and  enter 
tained,  especially  when  it  was  found  to  contain  representations  of  the 
state  of  the  Church,  in  our  opinion  not  justified  by  fact,  and  of  very 
injurious  tendency.  Another  objection  to  the  mode  in  which  the  said 
resolution  was  brought  before  the  Assembly  is,  that  a  majority  of  the 
committee  to  whom  the  memorial  was  referred,  and  who  reported  the 
resolution  against  which  we  protest,  were  members  of  the  convention 
presenting  the  memorial. 

11  6.  We  protest,  because,  against  the  earnest  remonstrances  of  many 
who  are  best  acquainted  with  the  happy  effects  of  the  Plan  of  Union, 
the  debate  on  the  subject  was  arrested  by  an  impatient  call  for  the  pre 
vious  question,  more  than  eighty  of  the  members  voting  for  it  having 
been  members  of  the  convention  in  whose  name  the  said  memorial  was 
presented.  The  Assembly  was  thus  forced  to  a  decision  without  any 
proper  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  alleged  irregularities,  and  before 
the  subject  of  errors  in  doctrine  had  been  discussed  in  the  Assembly, 
notwithstanding  the  memorialists  had  declared  that  they  i  complain  and 
testify'  against  said  Plan  of  Union  i  chiefly  because  of  their  sincere 
belief,  that  the  doctrinal  purity  of  our  ancient  Confession  of  Faith  is 
endangered,  and  not  because  of  any  preference  for  a  particular  system  of 
mere  Church  government  and  discipline/ 

"  For  these  reasons,  the  undersigned  enter  this  their  solemn  protest. 

"PHILADELPHIA,  June  1st,  1837. 

"  John  P.  Cleaveland,  William  Jessup,  Baxter  Dickinson,  Absalom 
Peters,  Henry  Brown,  Horace  Bushnell,  Harmon  Kingsbury, 
Timothy  Stillman,  David  Porter,  E.  W.  Gilbert,  Darius  0.  Gris- 
wold,  John  B.  Richardson,  James  B.  Shaw,  Washington  Thatcher, 
Thomas  Brown,  Thomas  Lounsbury,  Nahum  Gould,  Abner  Hoi- 
lister,  Ephraim  Cutler,  William  Fuller,  Gardner  Hayden,  Robert 
Stuart,  Silas  West,  Marcus  Smith,  John  L.  Grant,  John  Gridley, 
Nathaniel  C.  Clark,  Varnum  Noyes,  Dudley  Williams,  George 
Spaulding,  John  Seward,  Edwin  Holt,  Alanson  Saunders,  Jona 
than  Cone,  J.  M.  Rowland,  J.  W.  McCullough,  Dewey  Whitney, 
H.  S.  Walbridge,  Horace  Hunt,  Samuel  Reed,  Rufus  Nutting, 
Zina  Whittlesey,  James  R.  Gibson,  Bennet  Roberts,  Joseph  H. 
Breck,  Enoch  Kingsbury,  James  Boyd,  Eldad  Barber,  David 
Schenck,  Ira  Pettibone,  Lewis  H.  Loss,  Jonathan  Hovey,  J.  B. 
Preston,  Ambrose  White,  Wilfred  Hall,  John  S.  Martin,  George 
Painter,  Benjamin  Woodbury,  Burr  Bradley,  Ira  M.  Wead,  P. 
W.  Warriner,  T.  D.  Southworth,  Adam  Miller,  Jacob  Faris, 
Alexander  Campbell,  N.  S.  S.  Beman,  H.  H.  Hayes,  Henry 
Brewster,  N.  E.  Johnson,  Solomon  Stevens,  Daniel  Sayre,  Wil 
liam  C.  Wisner,  Isaac  J.  Rice,  Felix  Tracy,  Bliss  Burnap,  E. 
Cheever,  E.  Seymour,  Obadiah  Woodruff,  Frederick  W.  Graves, 
James  I.  Ostrom,  Philip  C.  Hay,  Jacob  Gideon,  David  B.  Ayres, 


462  XII. — PLAN    OF   UNION 

S.  W.  May,  Ammi  Doubleday,  Robert  Aikman,  William  Hoy, 
Thomas  McAuley,  John  Leonard,  Calvin  Cutler,  Merit  Harmon, 
F.  A.  McCorkle,  James  W.  Phillips,  George  E.  Delavan,  James 
A.  Carnahan,  Obadiah  N.  Bush,  John  McSween,  George  Duffield, 
S.  Benjamin,  John  Crawford,  Fayette  Shipherd,  Thomas  Wil 
liams,  II.  Campbell."— Minutes,  1837,  pp.  454-458. 

3.  Answer  to  this  Protest. 
/ 

tc  The  committee  to  whom  that  subject  was  referred,  beg  leave  to 
present  the  following  answer  to  the  protest  against  the  resolution  abro 
gating  '  the  Plan  of  Union/  and  request  that  both  be  placed  on  your 
minutes : 

"  The  reasons  of  protest  are  numbered  from  one  to  six.  No.  1  is  the 
principal,  and  therefore  we  prefer  leaving  it  to  the  last,  and  commencing 
with  No.  2.  'We  protest/  say  the  minority,  'against  the  resolution 
referred  to,  because  the  Plan  of  Union  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly 
of  1801,  was  designed  to  suppress  and  prevent  schismatical  contentions, 
and  for  the  promotion  of  charity,  or,  in  the  language  of  the  Plan  itself, 
'  with  a  view  to  prevent  alienation  and  promote  union  and  harmony.' 

"  To  this  a  sufficient  answer  is  found  in  the  broad  and  undeniable  fact, 
that  '  the  Plan  of  Union'  has  been  a  principal  means  of  dividing  the 
Church  and  this  General  Assembly  into  two  parties,  and  been  the  main 
source  of  those  schisms  which  for  many  years  have  distracted  our  Zion. 
Whilst  it  is  admitted,  that  in  some  instances  it  may  have  beneficially 
affected  certain  localities,  it  has  laid  the  deep  foundation  of  lasting  con 
fusion,  and  opened  wide  the  flood-gates  of  error  and  fanaticism.  For 
proof  of  this,  we  have  only  to  refer  to  the  recorded  votes  of  the  last  and 
the  present  General  Assemblies,  from  which  it  abundantly  appears,  that 
the  representatives  of  churches  formed  on  this  Plan  have  always  opposed 
the  Boards  of  Education  and  Missions,  and  the  efforts  toward  reform, 
and  the  suppression  of  errors  and  of  schismatical  contentions. 

"No.  3.  'Because  it  declares  the  said  Plan  of  Union  to  have  been 
totally  destitute  of  authority,  as  proceeding  from  the  General  Association 
of  Connecticut,  which  is  invested  with  no  power  to  legislate  in  such 
cases/ 

"In  reply  to  this,  let  it  be  remarked,  1st,  that  the  protesters  seeming 
to  admit  that  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  had  no  power  and 
authority  to  bind  their  churches,  yet  insist  that  the  General  Assembly 
could  make  a  treaty  or  covenant  that  should  be  binding  on  the  other 
side ;  and  the  brethren,  in  arguing  the  case,  did  insist  on  the  '  Plan' 
being  of  the  nature  of  a  covenant  (although  no  such  term  is  contained 
in  it),  and  yet  one  of  the  parties  to  this  covenant  had  no  authority  to 
make  a  contract  and  to  make  it  obligatory  on  their  churches.  That  is,  a 
contract,  treaty,  or  covenant  can  exist  and  be  and  continue  forever, 
binding  in  right  and  in  law  upon  one  party,  whilst  the  other  party, 


ABROGATED.  463 

having  no  power  or  authority  to  bind  themselves  and  those  for  whom 
they  plead  its  benefits,  never  could  be  bound.  That  is,  a  treaty  or  cove 
nant  may  exist  without  a  mutual  obligation  ! 

"  2dly.  The  protesters,  without  distinctly  affirming  it  again,  seem 
willing  that  the  reader  of  their  protest  should  believe  that  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut  had  power  to  bind  their  churches — that  their 
acts  participate  of  the  nature  of  ecclesiastical  authority.  '  By  acceding 
to  said  stipulations'  (say  they),  t  the  said  Association  relinquished  what 
ever  right  it  had  to  the  direction  and  regulation  of  the  members  of  its 
own  churches  in  the  new  settlements/  Now  these  remonstrants  know 
perfectly  well,  that  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  never  had, 
never  claimed,  and  never  exercised  any  right  at  all l  to  the  direction  and 
regulation  of  the  members  of  its  own  churches,'  even  in  Connecticut 
itself,  much  less  '  in  the  new  settlements/  The  '  right'  of  counsel  and 
advice  is  the  utmost  stretch  of  their  power  and  authority.  And  this 
General  Assembly  might  give  counsel  and  advice  to  the  churches  of 
Connecticut,  and,  should  it  be  founded  in  truth,  it  is  just  as  binding  upon 
those  churches  as  the  counsels  of  their  own  General  Association,  i.  e., 
it  comes  divested  entirely  of  all  ecclesiastical  authority. 

"  odly.  The  resolution  of  abrogation  is  alleged  to  be  l  a  breach  of  faith, 
and  wholly  void  and  of  no  effect/  This  is  begging  the  question  :  it  goes 
on  the  assumption,  that  faith  was  plighted  of  right,  and  the  treaty,  so 
called,  lawfully  constituted;  which  we  have  supposed  to  be  the  very 
point  in  question. 

"  No.  4.  t  Because  it  denominates  the  Plan  of  Union  unnatural  as 
well  as  unconstitutional,  arid  attributes  to  it  much  confusion  and  irregu 
larity/  A  sufficient  answer  to  this  is  found  in  the  preceding;  to  which 
may  be  added  a  single  remark  as  to  the  irregularity,  viz.,  that  upon 
inquiry  of  brethren  who  came  in  upon  this  '  Plan/  it  appeared  from 
their  own  showing,  to  the  abundant  conviction  of  this  General  Assembly, 
that  there  were  some  members  on  this  floor,  deliberating  and  voting  on 
the  very  resolutions  in  question,  who  had  never  adopted  the  Confession 
of  Faith  of  this  Church. 

il  No.  5.  The  fifth  reason  of  protest  is,  that  the  resolution  was  con 
cocted  and  brought  before  the  Assembly  by  members  of  this  body  who 
had  previously  consulted,  in  the  form  of  a  convention,  and  memorialized 
this  body  on  the  subject :  and  that  a  majority  of  the  committee  to  whom 
the  memorial  was  referred  were  members  of  the  convention. 

"  As  to  the  former,  let  it  suffice  to  say,  that  it  is  the  right  of  every 
freeman  and  the  duty  of  every  Christian,  before  entering  upon  any  great 
and  important  measure,  to  (  ponder  the  path  of  his  feet/  because  l  in 
the  multitude  of  counsellors  there  is  safety/  How  the  name  '  conven 
tion/  any  more  than  the  name  '  caucus/  should  utterly  vitiate  their 
counsel,  it  may  be  difficult  to  discern. 

"  As  to  the  latter,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  in  all  deliberative  bodies, 
the  principle  is  settled,  that  large  committees  ought  to  be  selected  in 
proportion  to  the  respective  party  views  that  may  be  entertained  on  the 


464  XII. — PLAN    OF    UNION 

subject  committed.  The  wisdom  of  the  rule  is  obvious  to  common 
sense,  and  the  moderator  of  this  Assembly  simply  carried  out  the  rule 
in  this  case. 

"  No.  6.  The  sixth  reason  of  protest  is,  '  because  the  debate  on  the 
subject  was  arrested  by  an  impatient  call  for  the  previous  question.  The 
Assembly  was  thus  forced  to  a  decision  without  any  proper  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  the  alleged  irregularities,  and  before  the  subject  of 
errors  in  doctrine  had  been  decided  on  in  the  Assembly/ 

11  Here  remark,  first,  the  call  for  the  previous  question  was  not  im 
patient, — it  was  asked  for  and  seconded  by  a  majority  of  the  house,  not 
in  the  spirit  of  violence  and  unjust  oppression  of  the  minority  j  and, 
secondly,  there  was  no  unreasonable  curtailment  of  debate.  The  resolu 
tion  was  discussed  two  whole  days, — a  period  of  time  perhaps  more  ex 
tended  than  was  ever  before  allotted  or  allowed  by  any  General  Assembly 
to  any  single  naked  resolution.  And,  thirdly,  the  brethren  of  the 
minority  occupied  the  floor  more  than  one-half  of  the  time.  And  on 
another  resolution,  where  the  discussion  was  arrested  by  the  previous 
question,  it  was  just  at  the  close  of  two  long  speeches  by  the  minority, 
and  after  they  had  consumed  more  than  five  hours  in  debate ;  whereas, 
the  majority  had  not  occupied  the  floor  two  hours  and  a  half.  So  utterly 
groundless  is  the  insinuation  that  a  cruel  and  unjust  use  has  been  made 
of  the  previous  question. 

"  'The  Assembly  was  thus  forced/  say  the  protesters — the  Assembly 
was  forced  !  'Forced'  by  whom?  Undoubtedly,  by  itself — 'forced'  to 
do  just  as  it  wished  to  do — 'forced'  to  decide  by  a  strong  vote  on  a 
subject  which  had  been  discussed  two  whole  davs !  Strange  coercion 
this ! ! 

"But,  fourthly,  the  resolution  in  question  was  passed  before  the 
doctrinal  errors  were  condemned.  This  is  true.  But  it  is  also  true, 
that  '  the  Assembly  was  thus  forced,'  by  the  opposition  of  the  minority, 
to  pass  by  the  doctrinal  discussion,  because  they  could  not  have  it  in 
the  order  recommended  by  their  committee.  Certain  alleged  errors  were 
offered  by  the  minority,  which  they  refused  to  have  put  in  their  proper 
place,  but  insisted  on  having  first  of  all  a  decision  upon  them  as  amend 
ments;  which  attempt,  had  it  been  successful,  would  have  precluded 
their  discussion,  except  upon  a  vote  of  reconsideration,  which  requires 
two-thirds :  and  thus  the  majority  would  have  been  completely,  as  to 
these  alleged  errors,  in  the  power  of  the  minority.  Hence  they  were 
laid  on  the  table,  to  be  taken  up  at  a  future  time.  We  now  proceed  to 

"No.  1.  The  principal  reason  of  protest  is  in  these  words,  viz. :  "Be 
cause  the  said  act  is  declared,  in  the  resolution  complained  of,  to  have 
been  unconstitutional.' 

"  In  opposition  to  the  resolution  declaring  the  Plan  of  Union  uncon 
stitutional,  it  would  appear  most  reasonable  that  the  protesters  should 
affirm  its  constitutionality,  i.  e.,  that  the  Constitution  covers  and  provides 
for  it.  This  ground,  however,  the  protesters  have  not  ventured  to  take. 
On  the  contrary,  they  explicitly  admit,  that  the  Constitution  makes  no 


ABROGATED.  465 

provision  for  said  act — fit  is/  say  they,  l  neither  specifically  provided 
for,  nor  prohibited  in  the  Constitution/ 

"  A  remark  or  two  will  show  that  in  this  they  have  abandoned  the 
ground.  For,  1.  The  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  like 
that  of  our  National  Union,  is  a  constitution  of  specific  powers,  granted 
by  the  Presbyteries,  the  fountains  of  power,  to  the  Synods  and  the 
General  Assembly.  2.  No  powers,  not  specifically  granted,  can  lawfully 
be  inferred  and  assumed  by  the  General  Assembly,  but  only  such  as  are 
indispensably  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  those  which  are  specifically 
granted.  3.  Therefore  the  burden  of  proof  lies  upon  those  who  affirm 
that  the  Assembly  had  power  to  enact  this  '  Plan  of  Union.'  They  admit 
that  there  is  no  specific  grant  of  such  power;  they  are  bound  then  to 
prove  that  its  exercise  was  indispensably  necessary,  in  order  to  carry  out 
some  other  power  specifically  granted.  Now  we  search  in  vain  for  any 
such  proof  in  the  protest.  There  is,  we  believe,  but  a  single  effort  of  the 
kind.  This  effort  is  made  in  view  of  two  distinct  and  distant  clauses  in 
our  book.  (Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  4.)  The  General 
Assembly  ' shall  constitute  the  bond  of  union,  peace,  correspondence, 
and  mutual  confidence  among  all  our  churches/  But  surely  here  is  no 
power  granted  to  constitute  a  bond  of  union  with  churches  of  another 
denomination.  It  has  exclusive  reference  to  'all  our  churches/  and  yet 
the  protesters  refer  to  this  as  authority  for  forming  a  union  with  a  de 
nomination  not  holding  the  same  form  of  government. 

"  An  equally  unsuccessful  attempt  is  made  upon  chap,  i,  sec.  2,  where 
the  book  affirms,  that  '  any  Christian  Church,  or  union  or  association  of 
churches,  is  entitled  to  declare  the  terms  of  admission  into  its  com 
munion.'  And  the  protesters  assert  here,  that  the  General  Assembly 
exercised  this  power  in  forming  '  the  Plan  of  Union/  and  so  declared 
'  the  terms  of  admission  into  the  communion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
proper  to  be  required  in  the  frontier  settlements/ 

"  On  this  statement  two  remarks  seem  requisite  :  first,  the  settling  of 
the  terms  of  communion,  we  had  thought,  was  the  highest  act  of  power — 
an  act  beyond  the  reach  of  the  General  Assembly  itself — an  act  which 
the  Constitution  itself  provides,  shall  be  done  only  by  a  majority  of  the 
Presbyteries.  When,  we  ask,  did  the  Presbyterian  Church  i  declare  the 
terms  of  admission  into  its  communion  ?'  Most  assuredly,  when  the 
Constitution  was  adopted.  And  yet  the  protesters  in  this  case  aver,  that 
the  (  Plan  of  Union'  is  a  declaration  of  the  terms  of  admission  into  our 
communion  !  Could  they  affirm  more  directly  its  unconstitutionally  ? 

"  The  other  remark  is,  that  the  Plan  of  Union  itself  does  not  prescribe 
the  terms  of  admission  into  the  communion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
It  prescribes  the  manner  in  which  Congregationalists  may  remain  out  of 
this  Church,  and  yet  exercise  .a  controlling  and  governing  influence  over 
its  ecclesiastical  judicatories. 

"  In  the  entire  absence  of  all  proof,  that  the  power  exercised  in  form 
ing  the  Plan  of  Union,  was  indispensably  necessary  to  carry  out  a  power 
specifically  granted,  and  in  the  face  of  their  own  admission,  that  such 

30 


466  XII. — PLAN    OF   UNION 

power  is  not  specifically  given  to  the  General  Assembly,  we  conclude, 
that  the  act  in  question  was  without  any  authority,  and  must  be  null  and 
void. 

"  The  next  thing  worthy  of  notice,  is  the  criticism  on  the  phrases 
1  constitutional  rules/  and  '  obligatory  on  all  the  churches/  This  Plan  of 
Union,  it  is  argued,  is  not  of  the  nature  of  constitutional  rules,  obligatory 
on  all  the  churches,  and  therefore  it  was  not  necessary  that  it  should 
have  been  sent  down,  and  have  received  the  sanction  of  a  majority  of 
the  Presbyteries.  In  presenting  this  argument,  the  protesters  admit, 
that  if  the  Plan  did  embrace  constitutional  rules,  the  Assembly  had  no 
power  to  enact  it.  The  book  (Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  6) 
declares  :  l  Before  any  overtures  or  regulations  proposed  by  the  Assembly 
to  be  established  as  constitutional  rules,  shall  be  obligatory  on  the 
churches,  it  shall  be  necessary  to  transmit  them  to  all  the  Presbyteries, 
and  to  receive  the  returns  of  at  least  a  majority  of  them  in  writing, 
approving  thereof.' 

"  This  was  not  done  with  the  Plan  j  and  the  only  question  before  us 
is,  whether  it  is  an  alteration  of  the  Constitution  ?  This  Assembly 
affirms  that  it  is  a  radical  and  thorough  change  of  the  entire  system. 
On  which  remark — 

"  1.  Our  book  describes  four  church  courts,  viz.,  the  Church  Session, 
the  Presbytery,  the  Synod,  and  the  General  Assembly.  And  (chap,  ix) 
it  defines  '  the  Church  Session  to  consist  of  the  pastor  or  pastors  and 
ruling  elders  of  a  particular  congregation/  and  intrusts  to  these,  as 
permanent  officers,  the  government  of  that  church.  But  the  Plan  of 
Union  provides  for  no  such  thing.  It  expressly  dispenses  with  the 
Church  Session,  and  leaves  the  government  in  the  hands  of  the  people, 
or  of  a  temporary  committee. 

"  Again,  chap,  x,  sec.  2  :  '  A  Presbytery  consists  of  all  the  ministers 
and  one  ruling  elder  from  each  congregation  within  a  certain  district/ 
But  the  Plan  of  Union  abrogates  this  provision.  It  does  not  merely  pass 
it  by,  but  absolutely  repeals  and  nullifies  it.  According  to  the  Plan,  a 
Presbytery  may  have  committee-men  less  or  more  in  it,  and  may  have 
not  a  single  elder.  The  book  farther  states,  that  '  Every  congregation 
(i.  e.  of  Presbyterians  as  before  described)  which  has  a  stated  pastor, 
has  a  right  to  be  represented  by  one  elder '}  and  every  collegiate  church 
(i.  e.  a  church  with  two  or  more  ministers)  by  two  or  more  elders,  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  pastors/  Here  it  is  perfectly  obvious,  that 
the  principle  of  equal  representation  in  Presbytery  is  aimed  at.  The 
same  is  true  of  a  Synod  (chapter  xi)  :  'The  ratio  of  the  representation 
of  elders  in  the  Synod  is  the  same  as  in  the  Presbytery/  That  is,  every 
congregation,  governed  by  its  own  Session,  shall  be  represented  in  Pres 
bytery  and  Synod.  But  the  Plan  provides  for  Congregational  committee- 
men,  sitting  and  acting  and  voting  in  Presbytery,  although  it  also  pro 
vides  that  the  congregation  he  represents  shall  not  be  under  the  govern 
ment  of  the  Presbytery,  and  no  appeal  can  be  taken  from  it  to  the 
Presbytery,  even  by  a  minister;  unless  the  church  agree  to  it.  Thus 


ABROGATED.  467 

the  power  of  government  is  in  the  hands  of  men  over  whom  that  govern 
ment  does  not  extend.  It  is  surely  not  necessary  to  proceed  farther,  to 
show  that  the  Plan  is  an  abrogation  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Presbyterian  system.  And  yet  the  protesters  say  it  does  not  contain 
constitutional  rules.  No,  verily,  but  it  is  a  mass  of  unconstitutional 
usurpations,  resulting  from  an  overstretch  of  power.  By  the  criticism 
of  the  protest,  it  is  denied  that  the  Plan  contains  constitutional  rules ; 
whereas,  in  the  first  sentence  of  the  instrument  itself,  it  is  called  {  A 
plan  of  government  for  the  churches  in  the  new  settlements/  And  the 
second  sentence  runs  thus :  *  Regulations  adopted  by  the  General  As 
sembly/  &c.  Now,  if  regulations  are  not  rules,  language  has  lost  its 
meaning;  and  if  regulations  containing  'a  plan  of  government  for  the 
churches/  are  not  intended  to  be  binding,  and  do  not  touch  the  Consti 
tution,  we  are  utterly  at  a  loss  to  see  how  rules  and  regulations  could  be 
expressed.  The  article  in  question  has  been  called  { a  Plan  of  Union/  'a 
contract/  'a  covenant/  none  of  which  phrases  is  found  in  the  document 
itself.  It  declares  itself  to  be  ''regulations/  containing  '  a  plan  of  go 
vernment  for  the  churches.'  Now  the  General  Assembly  never  had  the 
power  to  establish  'regulations'  and  a  new  'plan  of  government/  the 
Plan  is  therefore  null  and  void. 

"  But,  we  are  told,  these  governmental  regulations  were  not  binding 
on  all  the  churches.  Were  they  not,  indeed  ?  Have  they  not  given 
rise  to  heterogeneous  bodies,  who  have  come  up  here  and  bound  us  al 
most  to  our  undoing  ?  Have  they  not  bound  with  green  withes  and 
new  cords  this  body  and  its  Boards  of  Education  and  Missions  ?  Have 
they  not  well-nigh  shorn  us  of  the  locks  of  our  strength,  and  forbidden 
us  to  go  forth  into  the  field  of  missionary  conflict  against  the  foes  of  our 
God  and  King  ?  Surely,  these  protesters  will  not  say  the  regulations  are 
not  binding  upon  all  the  churches. 

"  But,  again,  we  are  told  in  the  protest,  they  are  of  long  standing  and 
have  acquired  the  force  of  common  law.  Does  long  use  constitute  law? 
Then  it  would  follow  that  concubinage  and  polygamy  exist  of  moral 
right. 

"Again,  we  are  told,  that  this  'plan  of  government'  was  in  existence 
twenty  years  prior  to  the  last  adoption  of  our  Constitution ;  and  the  in 
ference  is,  that  therefore  it  is  binding,  and  was  viewed  as  a  contract  to 
be  kept  in  good  faith.  The  fair  inferences,  however,  from  the  fact,  ought 
to  be,  that  this  'plan  of  government'  was  not  submitted  to  our  Presby 
teries  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  is  therefore  not  binding;  and  that 
this  neglect  was  owing  to  the  circumstance  that  it  was  then  little  known,, 
and  its  evils  were  not  all  developed. 

"  Again,  we  are  told  in  the  protest,  in  reference  to  this  new  '  plan  of 
government/  that  its  omission  of  elders,  being  expressly  provided  for 
and  designed,  does  not  '  vitiate  the  organization ;  for  then  must  nume 
rous  churches  among  us,  in  which  there  are  no  deacons,  be  for  the  same' 
reason  pronounced  unconstitutional.'  And  we  are  free  to  confess  that, 
if  the  Constitution  made  the  deacon  a  ruling  officer  in  the  Church,  he 


468  XII. — PLAN    OF    UNION 

must  be  found  in  our  ecclesiastical  courts,  and  his  absence  would  nullify 
their  constitutional  existence.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case.  The 
deacon's  office  in  the  New  Testament,  and  in  our  book,  is  limited  to 
'  serving  tables.'  The  argument,  therefore,  is  lame,  and  shows  its  east 
ern  birth. 

"Again,  the  protest  affirms  that  the  argument  against  this  'plan  of 
government  for  the  churches/  because  it  was  not  submitted  to  the  Pres 
byteries,  strikes  equally  against  the  Theological  Seminaries,  the  Boards 
of  Education  and  of  Missions,  and  also  against  the  admission  of  the 
Presbyteries  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod  into  this  Church. 

"Let  us  touch  these  in  their  order;  and  first,  the  Theological  Semi 
naries.  Here,  again,  if  our  protesters  can  show  that  these  Seminaries 
are,  in  the  language  of  our  book,  l  constitutional  rules,  obligatory  on  the 
churches,'  or  even,  in  the  language  of  their  favorite  Plan,  l  regulations/ 
and  '  a  plan  of  government  for  the  churches  in  the  new  settlements/  we 
will  give  up  the  argument,  and  Princeton  and  the  Western  seminaries 
and  all.  But  if,  as  every  one  knows,  the  constitutions  and  regulations 
of  these  seminaries  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  government  of  the 
churches,  any  more  than  the  private  regulations  of  a  private  clergyman 
for  his  private  class  of  students,  then  is  this  argument  null  and  void 
from  the  beginning.  As  to  the  power  in  the  Assembly  to  organize  a 
seminary,  it  may  be  found  in  the  book  (Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii, 
sec.  5),  under  the  general  power  'of  superintending  the  concerns  of  the 
whole  Church/  none  of  which  concerns  is  of  more  vital  importance  than 
that  of  providing  an  efficient  ministry.  Also  to  them  belongs  the  power 
of  t  promoting  charity,  truth,  and  holiness,  through  all  the  churches 
under  their  care/  Now,  the  training  of  a  pious  and  orthodox  ministry 
is  the  most  effectual  mode  of  accomplishing  this  work,  and  clearly  places 
Theological  Seminaries  within  the  Assembly's  power. 

"  The  same  remarks  are  relevant  and  true,  in  reference  to  the  Board 
of  Education. 

"  As  to  the  Board  of  Missions,  '  the  superintending  of  the  concerns  of 
the  whole  Church'  cannot  be  carried  out  without  missions;  and  the 
Form  of  Government,  chap,  xviii,  expressly  provides  for  them,  and 
grants  to  the  Assembly  power  over  this  very  business.  It  reads  thus  : 
'  The  General  Assembly  may,  of  their  own  knowledge,  send  missions  to 
any  part  to  plant  churches  or  to  supply  vacancies  :  and,  for  this  purpose, 
may  direct  any  Presbytery  to  ordain  evangelists  or  ministers,  without 
relation  to  any  particular  churches.'  How  utterly  unreasonable,  then, 
for  the  protesters  to  deny  the  Assembly's  power  to  institute  a  Board  of 
Missions ! 

"  As  to  the  Mason  Library  and  the  Associate  Reformed  Churches,  it 
may  be  necessary  only  to  remark,  that  the  two  Presbyteries  of  New  York 
and  of  Philadelphia — the  only  parts  which  came  into  this  Presbyterian 
Church — were,  from  their  beginning,  Presbyterian,  according  to  the 
strictest  order ;  holding  the  same  identical  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith  and  Presbyterian  Form  of  Church  Government.  It  is  therefore 


ABROGATED.  469 

difficult  to  perceive  how  the  admission,  by  the  General  Assembly,  of 
strict  and  rigid  Presbyterians  into  their  connection  could  be  either 
extra  or  unconstitutional.  The  act  of  their  admission  did  not  create 
1  regulations/  and  '  a  plan  of  government  for  the  churches/  as  did  '  the 
Plan ;  in  question.  It  was  not  ( an  overture  or  regulation  for  establish 
ing  constitutional  rules,  obligatory  on  the  churches/  and  therefore  its 
transmission  to  all  the  Presbyteries  was  not  necessary. 

"  Finally,  the  unconstitutionally  of  the  'plan  of  government  for  the 
churches  in  the  new  settlements/  abrogated  by  this  resolution,  is  fur 
ther  demonstrated  by  reference  to  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec. 
1,  which  says,  '  The  General  Assembly  is  the  highest  judicatory  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  It  shall  represent,  in  one  body,  all  the  particular 
churches  of  this  denomination  /  and,  subsequently,  it  defines  the  ratio 
of  representation.  Now,  it  has  been  proved,  on  the  open  floor  of  this 
General  Assembly,  by  the  protesters  themselves,  that  the  Synod  of  the 
Western  Reserve,  which  was  formed  on  this  '  plan  of  government/  and 
which  contains  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  particular  churches,  has  only 
from  twenty-four  to  thirty  Presbyterian  churches  in  it ;  and  yet  that 
Synod  claims  a  right  to  twenty  representatives  here  !  Whom  do  these 
twenty  represent?  Certainly  not  '  particular  churches  of  this  denomina 
tion/  as  our  book  says.  No,  but  Congregational  churches,  which,  by 
the  terms  of  our  book,  and  the  whole  representative  spirit  of  our  system, 
have  no  right  to  be  represented  here,  and  to  judge  and  vote  here,  under 
a  Constitution  which  they  deny  to  be  binding  upon  themselves.  With 
no  greater  impropriety  would  unnaturalized  foreigners  claim  the  right 
of  franchise  in  our  country,  and  of  eligibility  to  office  in  our  legislatures, 
our  supreme  judicial  tribunals,  and  the  executive  departments  of  our 
States  and  the  nation.  Besides,  it  has  been  shown  by  themselves  here, 
that  this  (  plan  of  government'  has  been  here  violated,  by  those  claiming 
privileges  under  it,  sending  men  to  the  Assembly  who  had  never  adopted 
our  Constitution. 

"  We  therefore  conclude  that  the  reasonings  of  the  protesters  is  falla 
cious;  the  'plan  of  government'  adopted  in  1801  is,  and  ever  has  been, 
unconstitutional;  and  therefore  this  General  Assembly  ought  to  declare, 
as  it  has  done  in  the  resolution  protested  against,  that  it  is,  from  the  be 
ginning,  null  and  void." — Minutes,  1837,  pp.  453-464. 


4.  Resolutions  to  cite  to  the  Bar  of  the  Assembly  such  Inferior  Judica- 
tories  as  are  charged  by  Common  Fame  with  Irregularities. 

"1.  Resolved,  That  the  proper  steps  be  now  taken  to  cite  to  the  bar 
of  the  next  Assembly  such  inferior  judicatories  as  are  charged  by  com 
mon  fame  with  irregularities. 

"2.  That  a  special  committee  be  now  appointed  to  ascertain  what 
inferior  judicatories  are  thus  charged  by  common  fame,  prepare  charges 


470  XII. — THE   DIVISION   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

and  specifications  against  them,  and  to  digest  a  suitable  plan  of  procedure 
in  the  matter ;  and  that  said  committee  be  requested  to  report  as  soon  as 
practicable. 

"3.  That  as  citations  on  the  foregoing  Plan  is  the  commencement  of 
a  process  involving  the  right  of  membership  in  the  Assembly,  there 
fore — 

"Resolved,  That,  agreeably  to  a  principle  laid  down,  chap,  v,  sec.  9,  of 
the  Form  of  Government,  the  members  of  said  judicatories  be  excluded 
from  a  seat  in  the  next  Assembly  until  their  case  shall  be  decided. 

"Adopted  by  yeas  128,  nays  122."— Minutes,  1837,  p.  425. 

li  5.  Mr.  Hay  for  himself,  and  others,  gave  notice  of  a  protest  against 
the  foregoing  resolutions.  The  protest  and  answer  were  ordered  to  be 
entered  on  the  minutes,  viz.  : 

5.  Protest. 

"The  undersigned,  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  beg  leave 
respectfully  to  enter  their  solemn  protest  to  the  act  of  the  Assembly, 
adopting  the  three  resolutions  relative  to  the  citation  of  inferior  judi 
catories;  and  likewise  to  the  resolution  of  the  Assembly,  declaring  the 
Synod  of  the  Western  Keserve  not  a  part  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.* 
In  support  of  our  protest,  we  subjoin  the  following  reasons: 

"1.  We  object  to  the  mode  of  investigation  adopted,  in  the  first- 
named  resolutions,  by  the  Assembly.  They  resolve,  in  the  first  place, 
1  to  cite  to  the  bar  of  the  next  Assembly  such  inferior  judicatories  as  are 
charged,  by  common  fame,  with  irregularities/  The  first  step,  in  our 
estimation,  should  have  been  to  appoint  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the 
nature  of  the  various  rumors  which  are  said  to  be  afloat,  and  to  report  to 
the  Assembly  whether  there  was  any  cause  for  citation. 

"2.  The  committee 'was  empowered,  by  the  second  resolution,  merely 
to  ascertain  what  judicatories  were  charged  by  common  fame;  whereas, 
they  ought  to  have  been  instructed,  in  this  stage  of  the  investigation,  to 
ascertain  whether  there  was  or  was  not  any  foundation  for  existing 
rumors.  It  seems  to  be  made  imperative  by  the  resolution,  that  all 
judicatories  shall  be  reported  by  that  committee  for  citation  against 
which  any  unfavorable  rumors  are  in  circulation. 

"3.  The  majority  of  the  committee  recommending  these  measures 
were  members  of  the  convention  which  originated  all  this  business,  and 
brought  it  into  the  Assembly.  They  acted  upon  it  first  in  the  conven 
tion,  then  in  the  Assembly;  after  that  in  the  committee,  and  then  are 
to  pass  a  final  vote  in  the  Assembly.  They  petition  themselves,  con 
sider  their  own  petition,  and  then  grant  to  themselves  what  they  them 
selves  ask. 

*  Pp.  483,  11. 


THE   EXSCINDING   ACTS.  471 

"4.  The  investigation  ought  to  have  been  expressly  limited  to  Synods, 
because  the  Book  of  Discipline  makes  provision  for  the  Assembly,  in  cer 
tain  cases,  to  cite  Synods,  but  no  other  judicatories.  (See  Gen.  Rev.  and 
Con.,  VI.) 

"  5.'  The  resolution  to  deprive  the  judicatories  to  be  cited,  of  a  seat  in 
the  next  Assembly  is,  in  every  respect,  unconstitutional  and  void,  <a?> 
initio.'  This  Assembly  has  no  power,  by  their  vote,  to  deprive  com 
missioners,  duly  elected,  from  a  seat  in  the  next  Assembly,  because  that 
Assembly  has  the  exclusive  right  of  judging  of  the  qualifications  of  its 
own  members,  and  because  to  do  so  would  be  to  inflict  a  penalty  before 
trial  or  investigation.  Besides,  the  Assembly  has  power  to  cite  Synods 
only ;  and  Presbyteries,  and  not  Synods,  are  represented  on  this  flooi^ 
To  deprive  every  Presbytery  in  a  whole  Synod  of  a  seat  in  the  General 
Assembly,  because  a  Synod,  in  its  collective  capacity,  may  have  been 
irregular,  is  unprecedented  in  ecclesiastical  proceedings. 

"6.  The  provision  in  the  Book  of  Discipline  referred  to  in  the  third 
resolution,  to  justify  the  exclusion  of  members  from  seats  in  the  next 
Assembly,  has  no  application  to  this  case.  It  applies  only  to  a  minister 
of  the  Gospel  when  on  trial  before  his  own  Presbytery,  and  cannot 
justify  the  unconstitutional  bearing  of  this  resolution.  Besides,  the 
Book  of  Discipline  expressly  provides  for  those  cases  in  which  an  infe 
rior  judicatory  is  to  be  excluded  from  a  seat  in  the  superior  judicatory ; 
and  these  cases  are  trials  of  appeals  and  complaints  in  which  they  are 
interested." — Minutes,  1837,  pp.  473,  474. 


6.  Ansiuer  to  the  Protest. 

"  The  signers  to  the  protest  object  to  the  mode  of  investigation 
adopted  in  the  first-named  resolution,  and  contend  that  the  first  step 
should  have  been  to  appoint  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  nature  of 
the  rumors  which  are  said  to  be  afloat,  and  to  report  to  the  Assembly 
whether  there  was  any  cause  for  citation.  The  resolutions  as  to  cita 
tion  refer  to  supposed  cases,  and  the  committee  were  to  cite,  and 
designate,  and  report  to  the  Assembly  for  its  approval  and  further 
action.  In  this  aspect  of  the  case,  the  objections  urged  lose  their  force. 
No  wrong  was  done  to  any  Presbytery,  nor  any  irregular  process  author 
ized,  nor,  indeed,  any  final  step  to  be  taken  without  action  in  the 
General  Assembly.  Upon  the  report  of  the  committee  to  cite,  the 
house  would  decide  upon  the  foundation  for  existing  irregularities,  and 
a  wholesome  control  as  to  the  details  of  the  whole  subject  would  be 
exercised  by  the  Assembly  before  the  final  disposition  of  the  several 
cases ;  and  the  signers  of  the  protest  themselves  affirm,  in  a  subsequent 
part  of  the  paper,  and  with  the  design  of  sustaining  another  position, 
that  the  citation  contemplated  by  these  resolutions  was  according  to  the 
book.  Your  committee  deem  it,  therefore,  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon 
this  part  of  the  subject,  it  being  evident,  from  the  nature  of  the  resolu 
tions  and  the  admission  of  the  signers  to  the  protest,  that  the  steps  con- 


472  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

templated  by  these  resolutions  were  according  to  the  book,  and  within 
the  constitutional  power  of  this  Assembly. 

"  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  this  regular  constitutional  action  could 
be  impaired  or  destroyed  by  the  suggestion,  whether  true  or  untrue,  that 
the  committee  recommending  these  measures  were  members  of  the  con 
vention  ;  that  they  acted  upon  it  first  in  the  convention,  then  in  the 
Assembly;  after  that  in  the  committee,  and  then  were  to  pass  a  final 
vote  in  the  Assembly.  It  is  even  gravely  charged  as  a  ground  of  objec 
tion,  that  '  they  petition  themselves,  consider  their  own  petition,  and 
then  grant  to  themselves  what  they  themselves  ask/  It  is  a  sufficient 
answer  to  this  objection,  that  the  majority  of  the  duly-constituted  mem- 
fyers  of  this  Assembly  adopted  and  sanctioned  the  incipient  as  well  as 
final  steps  in  the  case;  and  the  acts  of  the  Assembly  are  valid  until  it 
be  shown  that  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  have  been  invaded,  or 
that  the  majority  consisted  of  persons  who  were  not  duly  qualified  com 
missioners.  The  fact  of  a  majority  or  any  number  of  members  of  the 
Assembly  having  been  members  of  the  convention  cannot  invalidate  the 
acts  of  the  Assembly.  The  right  of  petition  is  guaranteed  by  every  well- 
regulated  government,  whether  civil,  political,  or  ecclesiastical,  and  it  is 
just  as  competent  for  any  number  of  the  individuals  composing  the 
Assembly  to  meet  publicly  for  consultation,  as  it  would  be  for  any  num 
ber  to  meet  privately  for  the  same  object.  In  neither  case  could  the 
action  of  those  members  in  the  Assembly  be  supposed  to  be  purified  or 
contaminated  by  such  consultations. 

a  The  investigation  contemplated  by  these  resolutions  was  designed 
to  apply  to  inferior  judicatories,  which  includes  Synods,  and  may  not 
necessarily  mean  Presbyteries.  The  specification  of  such  inferior  judi- 
catory  was  to  be  reported  by  the  committee,  and  the  fourth  objection,  as 
urged  by  the  signers  of  the  protest,  could  only  be  appropriate  when  a 
Presbytery  should  be  cited.  Any  supposed  restriction  of  the  right  of 
the  General  Assembly  to  cite  any  other  inferior  judicatories  but  Synods 
(which  is  regarded  by  the  signers  of  the  protest  as  being  derived  from 
the  sixth  part  of  the  section  of  General  Review  and  Control)  is  explained 
by  the  comprehensive  character  of  the  fifth  part,  which  assigns. to  the 
superior  judicatory  power  to  '  examine,  deliberate,  and  judge  in  the 
whole  matter  as  completely  as  if  it  had  been  recorded,  and  thus  brought 
up  by  the  review  of  the  records/  The  General  Assembly,  by  its  very 
Constitution,  is  regarded  as  having  a  general  control  of  the  whole 
Church,  and,  in  its  conservative  character,  shall  superintend  all  of  its 
concerns.  It  is  believed  that  the  initiatory  steps  contemplated  by  the 
resolutions  authorizing  a  committee  to  designate  inferior  judicatories  who 
may  have  been  guilty  of  irregularities,  to  cite  them,  and  report  as  soon 
as  practicable  to  this  Assembly,  do  not  infringe  the  spirit  or  letter  of 
the  inherent  powers  of  the  General  Assembly.  And  the  great  principles 
of  analogy  would  obviously  dictate  that  the  members  of  the  inferior 
judicatories  upon  whom  these  preparatory  measures  are  supposed  to 
operate,  should  not  be  permitted  to  sit  in  the  next  General  Assembly 


THE   EXSCINDING   ACTS.  473 

until  their  cases  should  be  decided.  If  there  be  any  sound  principle 
contained  in  the  clause,  and  the  uniform  practice  which  excludes  an 
interested  judicatory  from  voting,  that  principle  and  that  practice  should 
be  applied  to  the  members  of  such  inferior  judicatories  as  may  be 
affected  by  these  resolutions.  This  view  of  the  subject  is  exceedingly 
strengthened  by  the  fact  that  express  power  is  vested  in  our  judicatories 
to  exclude  at  will  their  own  members  when  on  trial  before  them." — 
Minutes,  1837,  pp.  476,  477. 

7.  Proposal  to  inquire  into  the  Expediency  of  a  Voluntary  Division  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  Mr.  Breckenridge  gave  notice  that  he  would  to-morrow  morning 
offer  a  resolution  to  appoint  a  committee,  to  consist  of  equal  numbers 
from  the  majority  and  minority  on  the  vote  to  cite  inferior  judicatories, 
to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  a  voluntary  division  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church/7— Minutes,  1837,  p.  426. 

"  Agreeably  to  notice  given  last  evening,  Mr.  Breckenridge  moved 
that  a  committee  of  ten  members,  of  whom  an  equal  number  shall  be 
from  the  majority  and  minority  of  the  vote  on  the  resolutions  to  cite  in 
ferior  judicatories,  be  appointed  on  the  state  of  the  Church. 

"  Dr.  Junkin  and  Mr.  Ewing,  on  the  part  of  the  majority,  and  Messrs. 
A.  Campbell  and  Jessup,  on  the  part  of  the  minority,  were  appointed  to 
nominate  each  five  members  of  the  committee  on  the  foregoing  resolu 
tions."—  Ibid.  p.  427. 

8.   Committee  of  Ten  appointed. 

"  Dr.  Junkin  and  Mr.  Campbell,  from  the  committees  to  nominate  the 
Committee  of  Ten  on  the  State  of  the  Church,  respectively  reported  the 
following  nominations,  viz. :  Mr.  Breckenridge,  Dr.  Alexander,  Dr. 
Cuyler,  Dr.  Witherspoon,  and  Mr.  Ewing,  on  the  part  of  the  majority; 
and  Dr.  McAuley,  Dr.  Beman,  Dr.  Peters,  Mr.  Dickinson,  and  Mr. 
Jessup,  on  the  part  of  the  minority.  The  report  was  adopted;  arid  the 
committee  was  directed  to  meet  in  this  house,  at  the  rising  of  the  As 
sembly  this  morning,  and  afterwards  on  their  own  adjournments. 

"  On  motion,  the  Assembly  engaged  in  prayer,  on  behalf  of  this  com 
mittee,  and  of  the  subject  referred  to  them/7 — Minutes,  1837,  p.  427. 

"  The  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Church  reported,  by  their  chair 
man,  Dr.  Alexander,  that  they  had  not  been  able  to  agree,  and  asked  to 
be  discharged. 


474  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"  Both  portions  of  the  committee  then  made  separate  reports,  accom 
panied  by  various  papers,  which  reports  and  papers  were  ordered  to  be 
entered  on  the  Minutes  of  the  Assembly,  and  are  as  follows,  viz.  : 


9.  Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Majority. 

"  The  committee  of  the  majority,  from  the  united  Committee  on  the 
State  of  the  Church,  beg  leave  to  report : 

"That  having  been  unable  to  agree  with  the  minority's  committee  on 
any  plan  for  the  immediate  and  voluntary  separation  of  the  New  and 
Old  School  parties  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  they  lay  before  the 
General  Assembly  the  papers  which  passed  between  the  committees,  and 
which  contain  all  the  important  proceedings  of  both  bodies. 

"  These  papers  are  marked  1  to  5  of  the  majority,  and  1  to  4  of  the 
minority.  A  careful  examination  of  them  will  show  that  the  two  com 
mittees  were  agreed  in  the  following  matters,  namely : 

"  1.  The  propriety  of  a  voluntary  separation  of  the  parties  in  our 
Church,  and  their  separate  organization. 

"2.  As  to  the  corporate  funds,  the  names  to  be  held  by  each  denomi 
nation,  the  records  of  the  Church,  and  its  boards  and  institutions. 

"  It  will  further  appear,  that  the  committees  were  entirely  unable  to 
agree  on  the  following  points,  namely : 

"  1.  As  to  the  propriety  of  entering  at  once,  by  the  Assembly,  upon 
the  division,  or  the  sending  down  of  the  question  to  the  Presbyteries. 

"2.  As  to  the  power  of  the  Assembly  to  take  effectual  initiative  steps, 
as  proposed  by  the  majority,  or  the  necessity  of  obtaining  a  change  in 
the  Constitution  of  the  Church. 

"  3.  As  to  the  breaking  up  of  the  succession  of  this  General  Assem 
bly,  so  that  neither  of  the  new  Assemblies  proposed,  to  be  considered 
this  -proper  body  continued  ;  or  that  the  body  which  should  retain  the* 
name  and  institutions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  should  be  held  in  fact  and  law 
to  be  the  true  successors  of  this  body.  While  the  committee  of  the 
majority  were  perfectly  disposed  to  do  all  that  the  utmost  liberality  could 
demand,  and  to  use  in  all  cases  such  expressions  as  should  be  wholly 
unexceptionable,  yet  it  appeared  to  us  indispensable  to  take  our  final 
stand  on  these  grounds. 

"  For,  first,  we  are  convinced  that  if  anything  tending  towards  a  vo- 


THE   EXSCINDING   ACTS.  475 

luntary  separation  is  done,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  do  it  effectually, 
and  at  once. 

"  Secondly.  As  neither  party  professes  any  desire  to  alter  any  consti 
tutional  rule  whatever,  it  seems  to  us  not  only  needless,  but  absurd,  to 
send  down  an  overture  to  the  Presbyteries  on  this  subject.  We  believe, 
moreover,  that  full  power  exists  in  the  Assembly,  either  by  consent  of 
parties,  or  in  the  way  of  discipline,  to  settle  this  and  all  such  cases;  and 
that  its  speedy  settlement  is  greatly  to  be  desired. 

"  Thirdly.  In  regard  to  the  succession  of  the  General  Assembly,  this 
committee  could  not,  in  present  circumstances,  consent  to  anything  that 
should  even  imply  the  final  dissolution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as 
now  organized  in  this  country  ;  which  idea,  it  will  be  observed,  is  at  the 
basis  of  the  plan  of  the  minority,  insomuch  that  even  the  body  retaining 
the  name  and  institutions  should  not  be  considered  the  successor  of  this 
body. 

11  Finally.  It  will  be  observed  from  our  fifth  paper,  as  compared  with 
the  fourth  paper  of  the  minority's  committee,  that  the  final  shape  which 
their  proposal  assumed  was  such  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  majority 
of  the  house  to  carry  out  its  views  and  wishes,  let  the  vote  be  as  it  might; 
for  if  the  house  should  vote  for  the  plan  of  the  committee  of  the  ma 
jority,  the  other  committee  would  not  consider  itself  or  its  friends  bound 
thereby;  and  voluntary  division  would  therefore  be  impossible,  in  that 
case.  But  if  the  house  should  vote  for  the  minority's  plan,  then — the 
foregoing  insuperable  objections  to  that  plan  being  supposed  to  be  sur 
mounted — still  the  whole  case  would  be  put  off,  perhaps  indefinitely. 

"  A.  ALEXANDER, 
"  C.  C.  CUYLER, 

"J.   WlTHERSPOON, 

"N.  EWING, 

"  R.  J.  BRECKENRIDGE." 
—Ibid.  pp.  430,  431. 


10.  Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Minority. 

"  The  subscribers,  appointed  members  of  the  Committee  of  Ten  on 
the  State  of  the  Church,  respectfully  ask  leave  to  report,  as  follows: 

"  It  being  understood  that  one  object  of  the  appointment  of  said  com 
mittee  was  to  consider  the  expediency  of  a  voluntary  division  of  the 


476  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

Presbyterian  Church,  and  to  devise  a  plan  for  the  same,  they,  in  connec 
tion  with  the  other  members  of  the  committee,  have  had  the  subject 
under  deliberation. 

"  The  subscribers  had  believed  that  no  such  imperious  necessity  for  a 
division  of  the  Church  existed,  as  some  of  their  brethren  supposed,  and 
that  the  consequences  of  division  would  be  greatly  to  be  deprecated. 
Such  necessity,  however,  being  urged  by  many  of  our  brethren,  we  have 
been  induced  to  yield  to  their  wishes,  and  to  admit  the  expediency  of  a 
division,  provided  the  same  could  be  accomplished  in  an  amicable,  equi 
table,  and  proper  manner.  We  have  accordingly  submitted  the  follow 
ing  propositions  to  our  brethren  on  the  other  part  of  the  same  committee, 
who  at  the  same  time  submitted  to  us  their  proposition,  which  is  annexed 
to  this  report. 

"[Here  read  the  proposition  marked  Minority  No.  1,  and  Majority 
No.  1.] 

"  Being  informed  by  the  other  members  of  the  committee  that  they 
had  concluded  not  to  discuss  in  committee  the  propositions  which  should 
be  submitted,  and  that  all  propositions  on  both  sides  were  to  be  in  writing, 
and  to  be  answered  in  writing,  the  following  papers  passed  between  the 
two  parts  of  the  committee  : — 

"  Here  read  No.  2,  Minority  paper. 

2,  Majority     " 

3,  Majority     " 

3,  Minority     " 

4,  Majority     " 

4,  Minority     " 

5,  Majority     " 

"  From  these  papers  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  only  question  of  any  im 
portance  upon  which  the  committee  differed,  was  that  proposed  to  be 
submitted  to  the  decision  of  the  Assembly,  as  preliminary  to  any  action 
upon  the  details  of  either  plan.  Therefore,  believing  that  the  members 
of  this  Assembly  have  neither  a  constitutional  nor  moral  right  to  adopt 
a  plan  for  a  division  of  the  Church,  in  relation  to  which  they  are  en 
tirely  uninstructed  by  the  Presbyteries \  believing  that  the  course  pro 
posed  by  their  brethren  of  the  committee  to  be  entirely  inefficacious,  and 
calculated  to  introduce  confusion  and  discord  into  the  whole  Church,  and 
instead  of  mitigating,  to  enhance  the  evils  which  it  proposes  to  remove ; 
and  regarding  the  plan  proposed  by  themselves,  with  the  modifications 
thereof,  as  before  stated,  as  presenting  in  general  the  only  safe,  certain, 


THE   EXSCINDING   ACTS.  477 

and  constitutional  mode  of  division,  the  subscribers  do  respectfully  pre 
sent  the  same  to  the  Assembly  for  their  adoption  or  rejection. 

"THOMAS  McAuLEY, 
"  N.  S.  S.  BEMAN, 
"  ABSALOM  PETERS, 
"B.  DICKINSON, 
"  WILLIAM  JESSUP." 

JVb.  1,  of  the  Majority. 

"  The  portion  of  the  committee  which  represents  the  majority,  submit 
for  consideration  : 

"1.  That  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  require  a  separation  of  the  portions  called  respectively 
the  Old  and  New  School  parties,  and  represented  by  the  majority  and 
minority  in  the  present  Assembly. 

"2.  That  the  portion  of  the  Church  represented  by  the  majority  in 
the  present  General  Assembly,  ought  to  retain  the  name  and  the  corpo 
rate  property  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America. 

"  3.  That  the  two  parties  ought  to  form  separate  denominations,  under 
separate  organizations ;  that  to  effect  this  with  the  least  delay,  the  Com 
missioners  in  the  present  General  Assembly  shall  elect  which  body  they 
will  adhere  to,  and  this  election  shall  decide  the  position  of  their  Presby 
teries  respectively,  for  the  present ;  that  every  Presbytery  may  reverse 
the  decision  of  its  present  commissioners,  and  unite  with  the  opposite 
body  by  the  permission  of  that  body  properly  expressed ;  that  minorities 
of  Presbyteries,  if  large  enough,  or  if  not,  then  in  connection  with 
neighboring  minorities,  may  form  new  Presbyteries,  or  attach  themselves 
to  existing  Presbyteries,  in  union  with  either  body,  as  shall  be  agreed 
on ;  that  Synods  ought  to  take  order  and  make  election  on  the  general 
principles  already  stated  j  and  minorities  of  Synods  should  follow  out 
the  rule  suggested  for  minorities  of  Presbyteries,  as  far  as  they  are 
applicable/' 

A'b.  1,  of  the  Minority. 

"  Whereas,  the  experience  of  many  years  has  proved  that  this  body 
is  too  large  to  answer  the  purposes  contemplated  by  the  Constitution, 
and  there  appear  to  be  insuperable  obstacles  in  the  way  of  reducing  the 
representation : 

"And  whereas,  in  the  extension  of  the  Church  over  so  great  a  terri 
tory,  embracing  such  a  variety  of  people,  difference  of  view  in  relation 
to  important  points  of  church  policy  and  action,  as  well  as  theological 
opinion,  are  found  to  exist : 


478  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

"  Now,  it  is  believed,  a  divisioD  of  this  body  into  two  separate  bodies, 
which  shall  act  independently  of  each  other,  will  be  of  vital  importance 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  Therefore, 

u  Resolved,  That  the  following  rules  be  sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries 
for  their  adoption  or  rejection  as  constitutional  rules,  to  wit : 

"  1.  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America  shall  be,  and  it  hereby  is  divided  into  two  bodies; 
the  one  thereof  to  be  called  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  and  the  other,  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Church. 

"2.  That  the  Confession  of  Faith  arid  Form  of  Government  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States  of  America,  as  it  now  exists, 
shall  continue  to  be  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Form  of  Government 
of  both  bodies,  until  it  shall  be  constitutionally  changed  and  altered  by 
either,  in  the  manner  prescribed  therein. 

"8.  That  in  sending  up  their  commissioners  to  the  next  General 
Assembly,  each  Presbytery,  after  having,  in  making  out  their  com 
missions,  followed  the  form  now  prescribed,  shall  add  thereto  as  follows: 
1  That  in  case  a  majority  of  the  Presbyteries  shall  have  voted  to  adopt 
the  plan  for  organizing  two  General  Assemblies,  we  direct  our  said  com 
missioners  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  u  Pres 
byterian  Church  of  the  United  States  of  America,"  or  the  "  American 
Presbyterian  Church/'  as  the  case  may  be.7  And  after  the  opening  of 
the  next  General  Assembly,  and  before  proceeding  to  other  business 
than  the  usual  preliminary  organization,  the  said  Assembly  shall  ascertan 
what  is  the  vote  of  the  Presbyteries,  and  in  case  a  majority  of  said 
Presbyteries  shall  have  adopted  these  rules,  then  the  two  General 
Assemblies  shall  be  constituted  and  organized  in  the  manner  now  pointed 
out  in  the  Form  of  Government,  by  the  election  of  their  respective 
moderators,  stated  clerks,  and  other  officers. 

"4.  The  several  Presbyteries  shall  be  deemed  and  taken  to  belong  to 
that  Assembly  with  which  they  shall  direct  their  commissioners  to  meet, 
as  stated  in  the  preceding  rule.  And  each  General  Assembly  shall,  at 
their  first  meeting  as  aforesaid,  organize  the  Presbyteries  belonging  to 
each  into  Synods.  And  in  case  any  Presbytery  shall  fail  to  decide  as 
aforesaid  at  that  time,  they  may  attach  themselves  within  one  year 
thereafter  to  the  Assembly  they  shall  prefer. 

"  5.  Churches  and  members  of  churches,  as  well  as  Presbyteries,  shall 
b§  at  full  liberty  to  decide  to  which  of  said  Assemblies  they  will  be 
attached,  and  in  case  the  majority  of  male  members  in  any  church  shall 
decide  to  belong  to  a  Presbytery  connected  with  the  Assembly  to  which 
their  Presbytery  is  not  attached,  they  shall  certify  the  same  to  the  stated 
clerk  of  the  Presbytery  which  they  wish  to  leave  and  the  one  with 
which  they  wish  to  unite,  and  they  shall,  ipso  facto ,  be  attached  to  such 
Presbytery. 

"  6.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  Presbyteries,  at  their  first  meeting  after 
the  adoption  of  these  rules,  or  within  one  year  thereafter,  to  grant  cer- 


THE    EXSCINDING   ACTS.  479 

tificates  of  dismission  to  such  ministers,  licentiates,  and  students,  as  may 
wish  to  unite  with  a  Presbytery  attached  to  the  other  General  Assembly. 

"  7.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  Church  Sessions  to  grant  letters  of  dis 
mission  to  such  of  their  members,  being  in  regular  standing,  as  may 
apply  for  the  same  within  one  year  after  the  organization  of  said  Assem 
blies  under  these  rules,  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  with  any  church 
attached  to  a  Presbytery  under  the  care  of  the  other  General  Assembly ; 
and  if  such  Session  refuse  so  to  dismiss,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  such  mem 
bers  to  unite  with  such  other  church  in  the  same  manner  as  if  a  certifi 
cate  were  given. 

"8.  The  Boards  of  Education  and  Missions  shall  continue  their 
organizations  as  heretofore,  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  Assembly; 
and  in  case  the  rules  for  the  division  of  the  Assembly  be  adopted,  those 
boards  shall  be,  and  hereby  are,  transferred  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  if  that 
Assembly  at  its  first  meeting  shall  adopt  the  boards  as  their  organiza 
tions;  and  the  seats  of  any  ministers  or  elders  in  those  boards,  not 
belonging  to  that  General  Assembly,  shall  be  deemed  to  be  vacant. 

"9.  The  records  of  the  Assembly  shall  remain  in  the  hands  of  the 
present  stated  clerk,  for  the  mutual  use  and  benefit  of  both  General 
Assemblies,  until,  by  such  an  arrangement  as  they  may  adopt,  they  shall 
appoint  some  other  person  to  take  charge  of  the  same.  And  either 
Assembly,  at  their  own  expense,  may  cause  such  extracts  and  copies  to 
be  made  thereof,  as  they  may  desire  and  direct. 

"  10.  The  Princeton  Seminary  funds  to  be  transferred  to  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Seminary,  if  it  can  be  so  done  legally  and  without 
forfeiting  the  trusts  upon  which  the  grants  were  made ;  and  if  it  cannot 
be  done  legally,  and  according  to  the  intention  of  the  donors,  then  to 
remain  with  the  present  Board  of  Trustees  until  legislative  authority  be 
given  for  such  transfer.  The  supervision  of  said  seminary,  in  the  same 
manner  in  which  it  is  now  exercised  by  the  General  Assembly,  to  be 
transferred  to  and  vested  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  to  be  constituted.  The  other  funds  of  the 
Church  to  be  divided  equally  between  the  two  Assemblies. 

"  Pass  a  resolution  suspending  the  operation  of  the  controverted  votes 
until  after  the  next  Assembly/' 


N~o.  2,  of  the  Majority. 

u  The  Committee  of  the  Majority  having  considered  the  paper  sub 
mitted  by  that  of  the  minority,  observe  : 

"  1.  That  they  suppose  the  propriety  and  necessity  of  a  division  of  the 
Church  may  be  considered  as  agreed  on  by  both  committees ;  but  we 
think  it  not  expedient  to  attempt  giving  reasons  in  a  preamble;  the 
preamble  is  therefore  not  agreed  to. 

"  2.  So  much  of  No.  1;  of  the  plan  of  the  Committee  of  the  Minority, 


480  XII. — THE   DIVISION   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

as  relates  to  the  proposed  names  of  the  new  General  Assemblies,  is 
agreed  to. 

"3.  Nos.  1  to  8,  inclusive,  except  as  above,  are  not  agreed  to,  but 
our  proposition,  No.  3,  in  our  first  paper,  is  insisted  on.  But  we  agree 
to  the  proposal  in  regard  to  single  churches,  individual  ministers,  licen 
tiates,  students,  and  private  members. 

"  4.  In  lieu  of  No.  9,  we  propose  that  the  present  stated  clerk  be 
directed  to  make  out  a  complete  copy  of  all  our  records,  at  the  joint 
expense  of  both  the  new  bodies,  and  after  causing  the  copy  to  be  ex 
amined  and  certified,  deliver  it  to  the  written  order  of  the  moderator 
and  stated  clerk  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  American  Presbyterian 
Church. 

"  5.  We  agree,  in  substance,  to  the  proposal  in  No.  10,  and  offer  the 
following  as  the  form  in  which  the  proposition  shall  stand :  that  the 
corporate  funds  and  property  of  the  Church,  so  far  as  they  appertain  to 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  or  relate  to  the  professor's  sup 
port,  or  the  education  of  beneficiaries  there,  shall  remain  the  property 
of  the  body  retaining  the  name  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America ;  that  all  other  funds 
shall  be  equally  divided  between  the  new  bodies,  so  far  as  it  can  be  done 
in  conformity  with  the  intentions  of  the  donors;  and  that  all  liabilities 
of  the  present  Assembly  shall  be  discharged  in  equal  portions  by  them ; 
that  all  questions  relating  to  the  future  adjustment  of  this  whole  subject 
upon  the  principles  now  agreed  on,  shall  be  settled  by  committees 
appointed  by  the  new  Assemblies  at  their  first  meeting  respectively; 
and  if  these  committees  cannot  agree,  then  each  committee  shall  select 
one  arbitrator,  and  these  two,  a  third,  which  arbitrators  shall  have  full 
power  to  settle  finally  the  whole  case  in  all  its  parts ;  and  that  no  person 
shall  be  appointed  an  arbitrator,  who  is  a  member  of  either  Church;  it 
being  distinctly  understood  that  whatever  difficulties  may  arise  in  the 
construction  of  trusts,  and  all  other  questions  of  power,  as  well  as  right, 
legal  and  equitable,  shall  be  finally  decided  by  the  committees  or  arbi 
trators,  so  as  in  all  cases  to  prevent  an  appeal  by  either  party  to  the  legal 
tribunals  of  the  country/' 

A^b.  2,  of  the  Minority. 

"The  Committee  of  the  Minority,  &c.,  make  the  following  objections 
to  the  proposition  of  the  majority. 

"  1.  To  any  recognition  of  the  terms  '  Old  and  New  Schools/  or  '  Ma 
jority  and  Minority/  of  the  present  Assembly;  in  any  action  upon  the 
subject  of  division,  the  minority  expect  the  division  in  every  respect  to 
be  equal ;  no  other  would  be  satisfactory. 

"  2.  Insisting  upon  an  equal  division,  we  are  willing  that  that  portion 
of  the  Church  which  shall  choose  to  retain  the  present  Boards,  shall 
have  the  present  name  of  the  Assembly.  The  corporate  property  which 
is  susceptible  of  division  to  be  divided",  as  the  only  fair  and  just  course. 


THE   EXSCINDING   ACTS.  481 

"  3.  We  object  to  the  power  of  the  commissioners  to  make  any  division 
at  this  time,  and  as  individuals  we  cannot  assume  the  responsibility. 


No.  3  of  the  Majority. 

• 

"The  Committee  of  the  Majority,  &c.,  in  relation  to  paper  No.  2, 
observe : 

"1.  That  the  terms  'Old  and  New  School,  Majority  and  Minority/ 
are  meant  as  descriptive,  and  some  description  being  necessary,  we  see 
neither  impropriety  nor  unsuitableness  in  them. 

"  2.  Our  previous  paper,  No.  2,  having,  as  we  suppose,  substantially 
acceded  to  the  proposal  of  the  minority  in  relation  to  the  funds  in  their 
first  paper,  we  deem  any  further  statement  on  that  subject  unnecessary. 

"3.  That  we  see  no  difficulty  in  the  way  of  settling  the  matter  at 
present,  subject  to  the  revision  of  the  Presbyteries,  as  provided  in  our 
first  paper,  under  the  third  head ;  and  as  no  '  constitutional  rules'  are 
proposed  in  the  way  of  altering  any  principles  of  our  system,  we  see  no 
constitutional  obstacle  to  the  execution  of  the  proposal  already  made. 
We  therefore  adhere  to  that  plan  as  our  final  proposal.  But  if  the  com 
missioners  of  any  Presbytery  should  refuse  to  elect,  or  be  equally 
divided,  then  the  Presbytery  which  they  represent  shall  make  such 
election  at  its  first  meeting  after  the  adjournment  of  the  present  General 
Assembly. 

No.  3  of  the  Minority. 

"  1.  We  accede  to  the  proposition  to  have  no  preamble. 

"  2.  We  accede  to  the  proposition  No.  4,  modifying  our  proposition 
No.  9,  in  relation  to  the  records  and  copies  of  the  records.  The  copy  to 
be  made  within  one  year  after  the  division. 

"  3.  We  assent  to  the  modification  of  No.  10,  by  No.  5  of  the  propo 
sitions  submitted,  with  a  trifling  alteration  in  the  phraseology,  striking 
out  the  words,  f  shall  remain  the  property  of  the  body  retaining  the  name 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America/  and  inserting  the  words,  f  shall  be  transferred  and 
belong  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  hereby  constituted/ 

"4.  We  cannot  assent  to  any  division  by  the  present  commissioners' 
of  the  Assembly,  as  it  would  in  no  wise  be  obligatory  on  any  of  the  judi- 
catories  of  the  Church,  or  any  members  of  the  churches.  The  only 
effect  would  be  a  disorderly  dissolution  of  the  present  Assembly,  and  be 
of  no  binding  force  or  effect  upon  any  member  who  did  not  assent  to  it. 

"  5.  We  propose  a  resolution  to  be  appended  to  the  llules,  and  which 
we  believe,  if  adopted  by  the  committee,  would  pass  with  great  una 
nimity,  urging  in  strong  terms  the  adoption  of  the  llules  by  the  Presby 
teries;  and  the  members  of  the  minority  side  of  the  committee  pledge 

31 


482  XII. — THE    DIVISION   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

themselves  to  use  their  influence  to  procure  the  adoption  of  the  same  by 
the  Presbyteries." 

JVb.  4  of  the  Majority. 

"  The* committee  of  the  majority,  &c.,  in  reply  to  paper  No.  3  of  the 
minority's  committee,  simply  refer  to  their  own  preceding  papers,  as  con 
taining  their  final  propositions." 

No.  4  of  the  Minority. 

"  The  committee  of  the  minority,  in  reply  to  Paper  No.  3  of  the  ma 
jority,  observe : 

"  That  they  will  unite  in  a  report  to  the  Assembly,  stating  that  the 
committee  have  agreed  that  it  is  expedient  that  a  division  of  the  Church 
be  effected,  and  in  general  upon  the  principles  upon  which  it  is  to  be 
carried  out;  but  they  differ  as  to  the  manner  of  effecting  it.  On  the 
one  hand,  it  is  asked  that  a  division  be  made  by  the  present  Assembly 
at  their  present  meeting;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  plan  of  di 
vision,  with  the  subsequent  arrangement  and  organization,  shall  be  sub 
mitted  to  the  Presbyteries  for  their  adoption  or  rejection.  They  will 
unite  in  asking  the  General  Assembly  to  decide  the  above  points  previous 
to  reporting  the  details,  and,  in  case  the  Assembly  decide  in  favor  of 
immediate  division,  then  the  Paper  No.  1  of  the  majorit}^  with  the 
modifications  agreed  on,  be  taken  as  the  basis  of  the  report  in  detail. 

"  If  the  Assembly  decide  to  send  to  the  Presbyteries,  then  No.  1  of 
the  minority's  papers,  with  the  modifications  agreed  on,  shall  be  the 
basis  of  the  report  in  detail. 

"  The  committee  of  the  minority  cannot  agree  to  any  other  proposi 
tions  than  those  already  submitted,  until  the  above  be  settled  by  the 
Assembly. 

"  If  the  above  proposition  be  not  agreed  to,  or  be  modified,  and  then 
agreed  to,  they  desire  that  each  side  may  make  a  report  to  the  Assembly 


to-morrow  morning." 


No.  5  of  the  Majority. 


"The  committee  of  the  majority,  &c.,  in  answer  to  No.  4,  &c.,  reply, 
that,  understanding  from  the  verbal  explanations  of  the  committee  of  the 
minority,  that  the  said  committee  would  not  consider  eith3r  side  bound 
by  the  vote  of  the  Assembly,  if  it  were  against  their  views  and  wishes 
respectively  on  the  point  proposed  to  be  submitted  to  its  decision  in  said 
paper,  to  carry  out  in  good  faith  a  scheme  which,  in  that  case,  could  not 
be  approved  by  them  ;  and  under  such  circumstances  a  voluntary  sepa 
ration  being  manifestly  impossible,  this  committee  consider  No.  4  of  the 
minority  as  virtually  a  waiver  of  the  whole  subject.  If  nothing  farther 
remains  to  be  proposed,  they  submit  that  the  papers  be  laid  before  the 
Assembly,  and  that  the  united  committee  be  dissolved." 


THE    EXSCINDING   ACTS.  483 

"  The  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Church  was  discharged. 
"  The  whole  subject  was  laid  on  the  table  for  the  present.    Yeas,  138; 
Nays,  107."— Minutes,  1837,  pp.  430-437. 

11.    The  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve  declared  to  be  no  longer  a  Part 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

"Resolved,  That,  by  the  operation  of  the  abrogation  of  the  Plan  of 
Union  of  1801,  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve  is,  and  is  hereby 
declared  to  be  no  longer  a  part  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America.  Yeas,  132  ;  Nays,  105."— Minutes,  1837,  p.  440. 

12.   Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva,  and  Genesee  exscinded. 

il  Be  it  resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America — 

"1.  That  in  consequence  of  the  abrogation  by  this  Assembly  of  the 
Plan  of  Union  of  1801,  between  it  and  the  General  Association  of  Con 
necticut,  as  utterly  unconstitutional,  and  therefore  null  and  void  from 
the  beginning,  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva,  and  Genesee,  which  were 
formed  and  attached  to  this  body  under  and  in  execution  of  said  '  Plan 
of  Union,'  be,  and  are  hereby  declared  to  be  out  of  the  ecclesiastical  con 
nection  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
and  that  they  are  not  in  form  or  in  fact  an  integral  portion  of  said 
Church. 

"  2.  That  the  solicitude  of  this  Assembly  on  the  whole  subject,  and 
its  urgency  for  the  immediate  decision  of  it,  are  greatly  increased  by 
reason  of  the  gross  disorders  which  are  ascertained  to  have  prevailed  in 
those  Synods  (as  well  as  that  of  the  Western  Reserve,  against  which  a 
declarative  resolution,  similar  to  the  first  of  these,  has  been  passed  during 
our  present  sessions),  it  being  made  clear  to  us  that  even  the  Plan  of 
Union  itself  was  never  consistently  carried  into  effect  by  those  professing 
to  act  under  it. 

"  3.  That  the  General  Assembly  has  no  intention  by  these  resolutions, 
or  by  that  passed  in  the  case  of  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve,  to 
affect  in  any  way  the  ministerial  standing  of  any  members  of  either  of 
said  Synods ;  nor  to  disturb  the  pastoral  relation  in  any  church ;  nor  to 
interfere  with  the  duties  or  relations  of  private  Christians  in  their  re 
spective  congregations ;  but  only  to  declare  and  determine,  according  to 


484  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF    THE   CHURCH. 

the  truth  and  necessity  of  the  case,  and  by  virtue  of  the  full  authority 
existing  in  it  for  that  purpose,  the  relation  of  all  said  Synods  and  all 
their  constituent  parts  to  this  body,  and  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States. 

"4.  That  inasmuch  as  there  are  reported  to  be  several  churches  and 
ministers,  if  not  one  or  two  Presbyteries,  now  in  connection  with  one  or 
more  of  said  Synods,  which  are  strictly  Presbyterian  in  doctrine  and 
order,  be  it  therefore  further  resolved,  that  all  such  churches  and  minis 
ters  as  wish  to  unite  with  us,  are  hereby  directed  to  apply  for  admission 
into  those  Presbyteries  belonging  to  our  connection  which  are  most  con 
venient  to  their  respective  locations  ;  and  that  any  such  Presbytery  as 
aforesaid,  being  strictly  Presbyterian  in  doctrine  and  order,  and  now  in 
connection  with  either  of  said  Synods,  as  may  desire  to  unite  with  us, 
are  hereby  directed  to  make  application,  with  a  full  statement  of  their 
cases,  to  the  next  General  Assembly,  which  will  take  proper  order 
thereon." 

"  Yeas  on  resolution  1,  115;  Nays,  88 ;  on  resolutions  2,  3,  4,  Yeas, 
113  ;  Nays,  W."— Minutes,  1837,  pp.  444,  445. 

13.  Protest  of  the  Commissioners  from  the  Synod  of  Western  Reserve. 

"We,  the  subscribers,  commissioners  to  this  General  Assembly  from 
the  Presbyteries  of  Grand  River,  Trumbull,  Portage,  Cleveland,  Lorain, 
Medina,  Huron,  and  Maumee,  feel  it  our  duty  to  enter  our  solemn  pro 
test  and  remonstrance  against  what  we  regard  the  unconstitutional  and 
unjust  act  of  the  Assembly,  by  which  we  are  interrupted  in  the  dis 
charge  of  the  duties  assigned  us  by  our  respective  Presbyteries,  and 
excluded  from  the  floor  of  this  house,  and  from  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  these  United  States  of  America;  and  by  which  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  said  Church  is  actually  dismembered ;  and  for  the  fol 
lowing  reasons,  viz. : 

"1.  We  were  regularly  appointed  by  our  Presbyteries,  commissioned 
in  due  form,  and  admitted  to  our  seats  in  this  Assembly,  and  exercised 
our  undisputed  rights  as  members  for  two  weeks. 

"2.  The  Presbyteries  represented  by  us  all  have  a  regular  Presby 
terian  existence,  according  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  as  interpreted  and  administered  by  all  the  courts  of  the 
Church ;  and  some  of  these  Presbyteries  existed  prior  to  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution  in  1821,  and  participated  in  that  act. 

"  3.  If  there  was  anything  wrong  in  the  original  organization  of  our 


THE    EXSCINDING    ACTS.  485 

Presbyteries  (which  we  do  not  admit  or  believe),  this  wrong  was  charge 
able,  not  upon  us,  but  upon  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  from  whose  act  our 
original  Presbyteries  received  their  existence,  and  which  act  has  been 
sanctioned  by  twenty-two  General  Assemblies,  up  to  the  present  time. 

"  4.  But  if,  after  an  administration  of  the  Constitution  for  thirty-six 
years,  on  the  assumption  that  the  Plan  of  Union  with  the  Association 
of  Connecticut  was  constitutional,  a  different  conclusion  is  now  arrived 
at,  we  can  see  no  reason  why  this  new  discovery,  which  legally  concerns 
the  l  accommodation  churches'  only,  should  be  made  a  reason  why  Pres 
byteries,  ministers,  and  elders,  regularly  introduced  into  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  according  to  its  known  and  common  forms,  should  be  driven, 
without  a  constitutional  trial,  from  the  rights  and  privileges  secured  to 
them  by  our  Constitution. 

"5.  If  it  be  assumed  that  the  existence  of  churches  on  the  'accom 
modation  plan'  rightfully  annihilates  the  existence  of  all  Presbyteries 
and  Synods  where  such  churches  have  been  formed,  we  see  not  why  this 
principle  should  be  confined  in  its  severe  application  to  the  Synod  of  the 
Western  Reserve,  when  it  is  known  that  the  same  system  has  prevailed 
in  the  Synods  of  Albany,  New  Jersey,  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
and  extensively  in  other  Synods  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly. 
And,  if  the  toleration  of  the  'accommodation  plan'  proves  so  fatal  to  the 
existence  of  inferior  courts,  we  see  not  why  the  originating  and  the  fos 
tering  of  this  plan  for  thirty-six  years  should  not  render  nugatory  all  the 
acts  of  the  Assembly  itself,  and  even  destroy  its  charter. 

"  A  principle  which  leads  to  results  so  disastrous  and  suicidal  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  we  cannot  regard  as  constitutional. 

"  6.  Once  admit  that  regularly  appointed  commissioners  may  be  ex 
cluded  instanter,  without  a  charge  of  discourtesy  to  the  House,  and 
without  trial,  and  the  way  is  open  to  drive  from  the  General  Assembly, 
under  some  pretext  or  other,  any  member,  or  any  number  of  members, 
who,  for  the  time  being,  may  be  obnoxious  to  the  majority.  This  prin 
ciple  annihilates  at  once  arid  forever  the  rights  of  Presbyteries  on  this 
floor,  and  renders  the  Constitution  itself  a  dead  letter. 

"We  complain  not  so  much  that  we  were  denied  a  patient  hearing; 
that  it  was  professed  we  were  not  on  trial,  on  the  ground  that  we  were 
already  out  of  the  House  by  the  passage  of  a  previous  resolution ;  and 
that  still  testimony  was  elicited  from  us  catechetically,  which,  we  think, 
was  abused  to  our  condemnation  •  that  the  whole  case  on  which  hung 
the  destiny  of  the  Synod  was  hurried  through,  and  finally  closed  bv  the 
'previous  question,'  which  shut  up  the  mouths  of  ourselves  and  our 
friends;  that,  finally,  we  were  furnished  with  no  communication  dis 
missing  us  from  the  House  in  a  courteous  manner.  All  this  we  have  felt 
to  be  unkind  and  unjust  treatment;  but  we  have  passed  it  over,  to  select 
our  reasons  for  protest  from  the  great  principles  of  Presbyterianism, 
which,  in  our  case,  have  been  violated.  We,  therefore,  wish  to  leave 
this  our  solemn  protest  on  the  records  of  a  court  of  which  we  still  regard 


486  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OP   THE    CHURCH. 

ourselves  as  rightful  members.     Having  done  this,  we  commit  our  case 
to  the  calm  decision  of  the  Church  at  large,  of  posterity,  of  God. 

"Rufus  Nutting,  Alanson  Sauriders,  Henry  Brown,  Eldad  Barber,, 
John  Seward,  William  Fuller,  Joseph  H.  Breck,  James  Boyd, 
Harmon  Kingsbury,  Isaac  J.  Rice,  Varnum  Noyes,  Benjamin 
Woodbury,  Dudley  Williams."— Minutes,  1837,  pp.  449,  450. 

14.  Answer  to  the  Protest. 

u  The  General  Assembly  might  not  only  decline  to  reply  to  the  pro 
test  signed  by  the  commissioners  from  the  Presbyteries  composing  the 
Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve,  but  even  refuse  to  admit  it  to  record. 
For  if  the  Plan  of  Union  was  unconstitutional,  and  therefore  void,  from 
the  beginning,  and  the  existence  of  these  Presbyteries  was  founded  on 
that  Plan  of  Union,  then  they  never  had  a  constitutional  existence,  and 
their  commissioners  never  had  a  constitutional  right  to  a  seat  in  the 
General  Assembly.  The  Assembly,  therefore,  do  not  exclude  those  who 
they  admit  once  had  a  right  to  seats  here,  but  they  simply  declare  that, 
from  the  unconstitutional  organization  of  these  Presbyteries,  their  com 
missioners  never  had,  and  of  course  now  have  not  a  right  to  seats  in 
this  Assembly.  They,  therefore,  had  no  f  right  to  vote/  and  conse 
quently  had  no  'right  to  join  in  a  protest'  against  any  decision  of  this 
House,  or  to  have  their  protest  admitted  to  record.  They  did  vote, 
however,  in  the  decision  against  which  they  protest;  but  if  they  did 
that  in  one  case  which  the  Constitution  did  not  authorize,  that  certainly 
gives  them  no  right  to  do  another  thing  which  depended  on  their  right 
to  do  the  first  act. 

"  But  the  Assembly  desire  to  treat  those  brethren  with  all  courtesy, 
and  therefore  allow  their  protest  a  place  in  the  records. 

"  To  their  reasons  for  protesting,  the  following  answers  are  given  : 

u  It  seems,  however,  to  be  proper  in  the  first  place  to  state  the  great 
principle  on  which  the  Assembly  decided. 

"  Wre  believe  that  our  powers,  as  a  judicatory,  are  limited  and  pre 
scribed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Whatever  any 
Assembly  may  do  which  it  is  not  authorized  by  the  Constitution  to  do, 
is  not  binding  on  any  inferior  judicatory,  nor  on  any  subsequent  Assem 
bly. 

"  The  Constitution  provides  that  all  our  judicatories  shall  be  composed 
of  bishops  or  ministers  and  ruling  elders  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  the  General  Assembly  have  no  right  to  introduce  into  any  of  the 
judicatories  any  other  persons  claiming  to  hold  any  other  offices,  either 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church  or  any  other  Church.  And  should  they 
attempt  to  do  this,  no  one  is  bound  by  it.  But  the  General  Assembly 
of  1801  did  permit  members  of  standing  committees  in  churches  not 
Presbyterian  t  to  sit  and  act'  in  our  Presbyteries,  and  under  this  pro 
vision  they  have  sat  in  the  higher  judicatories  of  the  Church. 

U0n  a  thorough  investigation,  it  is  now  fully  ascertained  that  they 


THE   EXSCINDING   ACTS.  487 

had  no  authority  from  the  Constitution  to  admit  officers  from  any  other 
denomination  of  Christians  to  sit  and  act  in  our  judicatories ;  and  there 
fore  no  Presbytery  or  Synod  thus  constituted  is  recognized  by  the  Con 
stitution  of  our  Church,  and  no  subsequent  General  Assembly  is  bound 
to  recognize  them. 

"The  Presbyteries  of  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve  are  thus 
constituted,  for  committee-men  are  permitted  '  to  sit  and  act'  in  all  these 
Presbyteries;  therefore  this  General  Assembly  cannot  recognize  the 
constitutional  existence  of  these  Presbyteries. 

"  The  fact  that  they  have  been  recognized  by  former  Assemblies 
cannot  bind  this  Assembly,  when  it  is  fully  convinced  of  the  unconstitu 
tionally  of  the  organization. 

"  In  reply  to  the  first  reason  in  the  protest,  viz.,  that  they  were 
regularly  appointed  by  their  Presbyteries,  &c.,  we  say  they  were  not 
^regularly  appointed,  for  it  is  admitted  that  these  committee-men  are 
allowed  to  vote  for  commissioners  to  the  Assembly,  and  these  illegal 
votes,  of  which  there  may  have  been  a  majority,  render  the  appoint 
ment  illegal.  They  held  their  seats  in  this  Assembly  for  some  time,  it 
is  true,  but  this  gives  them  no  right  to  continue  to  hold  them  after  it  is 
ascertained  that  they  had  no  constitutional  right  to  seats. 

"As  to  the  second  reason,  that  their  Presbyteries  have  a  regular 
Presbyterian  existence,  it  is  denied  by  this  Assembly,  and  on  this 
ground  they  are  denied  seats.  The  existence  of  Presbyteries  thus  con 
stituted  is  recognized  neither  in  the  former  nor  the  amended  Constitution 
of  the  Church. 

"3.  If  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  constituted  Presbyteries  in  part  of 
materials  not  allowed  by  the  Constitution,  this  Assembly  is  not  bound 
to  recognize  them. 

"  4.  It  is  well  known  to  those  acquainted  with  the  history  of  this 
General  Assembly,  that  the  Plan  of  Union,  as  an  unconstitutional  com 
pact,  has  long  been  a  subject  of  complaint,  and  as  long  ago  as  the  year 
1831,  the  Assembly  resolved  that  the  appointment  of  members  of  stand 
ing  committees  to  be  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  was  of  ques 
tionable  constitutionality,  and  therefore  ought  not  in  future  to  be  made ; 
and  since  that  time  none  have  been  received  in  the  Assembly  known  to 
be  such.  But  their  right  to  seats  here  is  just  as  constitutional  as  in  the 
Presbytery. 

"The  protestants  still  assume  that  their  Presbyteries  are  regularly 
constituted,  while  we  consider  it  a  fundamental  departure  from  our 
system  to  organize  a  Presbytery  with  one  or  two  Presbyterian  churches 
and  ten  or  twelve  of  another  denomination  of  Christians.  And  had  none 
but  Presbyterian  churches  been  allowed  to  belong  to  the  Presbyteries, 
some  of  these  Presbyteries  never  would  have  existed.  The  representa 
tives  of  these  churches,  on  the  accommodation  plan,  form  a  constituent 
part  of  these  Presbyteries  as  really  as  the  pastors  or  elders,  and  this 
Assembly  can  recognize  no  Presbytery  thus  constituted  as  belonging  to 
the  Presbyterian  Church. 


488  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"  5.  The  Assembly  has  extended  the  operation  of  this  principle  to 
other  Synods  which  they  find  similarly  constituted.  But  even  if  they 
did  not,  this  injures  not  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve. 

a  6.  l  Once  admit  that  regularly  appointed  commissioners  may  be 
excluded/  &c.  This  is  assuming  what  we  deny.  Many  of  those  who 
voted  for  these  commissioners,  and,  for  aught  we  know,  a  majority,  were 
neither  bishops  nor  ruling  elders  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  there 
fore  had  no  right  to  vote  for  those  commissioners. 

"  The  Constitution  says  expressly,  it  (the  General  Assembly)  shall 
represent  in  one  body  all  the  particular  churches  of  this  denomination  j 
but  these  commissioners  were  voted  for  by  the  delegates  of  churches  of 
another  denomination ;  therefore  they  represent  churches  of  another 
denomination.  According  to  their  own  showing,  there  is  one  Presbytery 
with  only  one  Presbyterian  church,  another  with  two,  and  in  the  whole 
Synod,  containing  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  churches,  there  are  only.' 
twenty-five,  or,  at  most,  thirty  Presbyterian  churches,  and  one  hundred 
and  nine  Congregational  churches,  or  churches  of  a  mixed  character. 
It  cannot,  therefore,  be  a  Presbyterian  body  where  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  the  churches  are  not  Presbyterian.  It  is  perfectly  manifest 
that  in  a  body  thus  constituted  it  would  often  occur  that  the  commis 
sioners  elected  would  be  chosen  by  those  who  had  no  right  to  vote,  and 
so  they  would  be  the  representatives  not  of  the  Presbyterian,  but  of  the 
Congregational  denomination. 

"  We  would  observe,  in  reference  to  the  conclusion  of  the  protest,  that 
the  members  of  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve,  and  their  friends, 
occupied  a  larger  space  in  the  discussion  than  the  majority  of  the 
Assembly;  and  the  'previous  question'  was  not  called  for  until  it  was 
manifest  that  the  minds  of  members  were  made  up.  As  the  Assembly 
has  already  made  provision  for  the  organization  into  Presbyteries  and 
annexation  to  this  body  of  all  the  ministers  and  churches  who  are 
thoroughly  Presbyterian,  it  is  not  necessary  to  reply  to  the  closing 
remarks  of  the  protest." — Ibid.,  pp.  450,  452. 

15.  Protest  of  the  Commissioners  from  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva, 

and  Genesee. 

u  Whereas,  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  now  in  session,  has  declared  the  Synods  of 
Utica,  Geneva,  and  Genesee,  no  longer  constituent  parts  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church ;  and  whereas,  the  commissioners  from  the  Presbyteries 
constituting  those  Synods  have  been  deprived  of  the  right  of  deliberating 
and  voting  in  this  House,  therefore — 

"  The  undersigned,  commissioners  from  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva, 
and  Genesee,  claim  their  right  to  enter  their  protest  and  remonstrance 
against  these  acts,  for  the  reasons  following,  viz. : 


THE   EXSCINDING   ACTS.  489 

"1.  Because  we  deem  such  acts  utterly  unconstitutional  and  unpre 
cedented.  In  our  Form  of  Government  (chap,  xii,  sees.  4  and  5),  the 
powers  of  the  General  Assembly  are  specifically  defined,  but  no  authority 
to  exercise  such  summary  process  and  excision  is  there  granted.  In  our 
Book  of  Discipline  (chapters  iv  and  v),  the  mode  of  procedure  in  the 
trial  and  punishment  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel  is  expressly  and  speci 
fically  prescribed,  yet  no  one  point  of  these  laws  of  discipline  has  been 
conformed  to  in  the  excision  and  virtual  excommunication  of  four  or  five 
hundred  ministers,  in  good  and  regular  standing  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church ;  no  citations  have  been  issued  or  served ;  no  charges  have  been 
specified  or  preferred,  and  no  opportunity  has  been  afforded  for  justifica 
tion  or  defence. 

"2.  Because,  when  the  regular  and  constitutional  method  of  trial  was 
proposed  to  this  house,  the  majority  rejected  this  plan,  and  proceeded, 
.without  trial  in  any  form,  and,  in  our  judgment,  in  the  face  of  all  the 
regulations  and  provisions  of  our  Constitution  and  rules  of  discipline,  to 
declare  the  aforesaid  Synods  to  be  l  out  of  the  ecclesiastical  connection 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States,  and  not  in  form  or  fact 
an  integral  portion  of  said  Church/ 

"  3.  Because  the  act  of  exclusion  is  professedly  based  on  the  previous 
act  of  the  Assembly,  purporting  to  abrogate  the  '  Plan  of  Union '  formed 
by  the  Assembly  of  1801,  with  the  Connecticut  Association,  and  acted 
upon  for  thirty-six  years;  whereas,  in  our  estimation,  that  ancient  com 
pact  could  not,  in  good  faith,  be  abrogated  without  previous  conference 
with  said  Association ;  and  even  if  it  could  be  so  abrogated,  that  abro 
gation  would  not  destroy  or  invalidate  the  institutions  established,  and 
the  rights  vested  under  its  operation.  Besides,  the  majority  of  the 
churches  within  the  bounds  of  said  Synods  are  strictly  Presbyterian  in 
their  structure,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  even  the  small  number  of 
churches  originally  Congregational  were  not  organized  under  the  stipu 
lations  of  the  said  'Plan  of  Union,'  but  came  in  under  a  different 
arrangement,  and  posssessed  rights  on  this  subject,  separate  from  and 
independent  of  the  'Plan  of  Union'  of  1801,  secured  to  them  by  the 
Assembly  of  1808,  by  which  the  Synod  of  Albany  was  authorized  to 
take  the  'Middle  Association'  under  its  care;  in  virtue  of  which  ar 
rangement  commissioners  from  said  Association  were  admitted  to  the 
floor  of  the  General  Assembly  up  to  the  period  when  the  Association 
was  dissolved  and  erected  into  two  Presbyteries,  regularly  organized  out 
of  its  materials. 

"4.  Because  all  our  Synods  and  Presbyteries  have  been  regularly  and 
constitutionally  formed  and  recognized,  and,  as  such,  have  no  necessary 
dependence  whatever  upon  the  '  Plan  of  Union,'  or  any  other  plan  of 
accommodation,  and,  consequently,  could  not  be  affected  either  by  the 
existence  or  abrogation  of  such  plan. 

"  5.  Because  no  proof  was  exhibited  on  the  floor  of  the  Assembly,  that 
a  single  minister  in  these  Synods  was  irregularly  inducted  into  the  office 
of  the  ministry,  and  we  know  of  none  such ;  and  in  every  Presbytery 


490  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OP    THE   CHURCH. 

belonging  to  these  Synods  there  are  churches  formed  on  strict  Presbyte 
rian  principles,  and  in  most  of  our  Presbyteries  such  churches  compose 
a  large  majority. 

"  6.  Because,  while  the  resolution  for  the  exclusion  of  these  Synods 
was  under  discussion,  members  were  permitted  to  read  and  refer  to  let 
ters  and  publications  containing  what  we  consider  unfounded  statements, 
and  to  utter  vague  and  injurious  reports,  and  when  requested,  refused  to 
give  names,  places,  and  dates;  and,  although  the  right  was  insisted 
upon,  not  a  single  commissioner  from  any  one  of  the  three  Synods  could 
obtain  the  floor  to  address  the  Assembly  on  the  resolution,  being  put 
down  by  the  motion  for  the  previous  question. 

"  7.  Because  no  notice  whatever  was  given  to  the  Synods  in  question 
of  the  intention  to  sever  them  from  the  Presbyterian  Church,  nor  the 
least  opportunity  afforded  them  for  vindicating  themselves  from  the  vague 
and  informal  charges  uttered  against  them  on  the  floor  of  the  General 
Assembly. 

"  8.  Because  there  has  been  no  definite  or  authentic  evidence  what 
ever  regularly  before  this  Assembly,  of  the  existence  within  the  bounds 
of  the  said  Synods  of  those  errors  in  doctrine,  or  those  gross  irregularities 
in  practice  which  they  are  alleged  to  be  guilty  of  tolerating. 

"9.  Because,  in  our  view,  these  acts  of  the  Assembly  are  not  only 
unconstitutional  and  unwarrantable,  but  tend  to  disturb  the  peace  of  our 
churches,  to  injure  our  ministerial  character  and  standing,  and  to  impair 
our  usefulness,  and  thus  to  retard  the  progress  of  truth  and  righteousness 
in  one  of  the  most  populous  and  important  sections  of  our  country. 

"  10.  Because,  finally,  while  in  the  accompanying  resolutions  it  is  de 
clared  that  these  acts  are  not  intended  to  affect  our  ministerial  character, 
or  to  interfere  with  the  organization  and  peace  of  our  Synods  or  Presby 
teries,  the  last  resolution  in  the  category  directs  Presbyteries,  ministers, 
and  churches,  to  detach  themselves  from  the  bodies  with  which  they  are 
now  connected,  and  apply  for  admission  into  the  nearest  Presbyteries  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  Thus  attempting  to  exercise  authority  over 
bodies  already  declared  not  to  be  constituent  portions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States,  and  to  disturb  their  order  and  peace. 

"  For  these  reasons,  we  do  hereby  enter  our  solemn  protest  and  re 
monstrance  against  the  proceedings  in  question. 

"  John  W.  McCullough,  George  Spalding,  S.  Benjamin,  Philip 
C.  Hay,  Thomas  Lounsbury,  Merit  Harmon,  Solomon  Ste 
vens,  Ira  Pettibone,  John  Gridley,  J.  B.  Richardson,  Marcus 
Smith,  Horace  Hunt,  Henry  Brewster,  Samuel  W.  May, 
Fayette  Shipherd,  Washington  Thatcher,  J.  B.  Preston." — 
Minutes,  1837,  pp.  464-466. 

16.  Answer  to  tli-is  Protest. 

u  In  reply  to  the  protest  of  the  commissioners  from  the  Presbyteries 
composing  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva,  and  Genesee,  against  the  act  of 


THE   EXSCINDING   ACTS.  491 

this  Assembly  declaring  them  no  longer  a  constituent  portion  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  the  Assembly  remark  : 

"1.  That  the  above-named  Synods  became  connected  with  the  Pres 
byterian  Church  by  the  Plan  of  Union  of  1801,  which  Plan  the  Assem 
bly  had  no  constitutional  power  to  adopt,  and  was  accordingly  null  and 
void  from  the  beginning.  So  it  has  been  declared  by  this  Assembly. 
And  as  these  Synods  became  connected  with  the  General  Assembly  by 
an  unconstitutional  Plan  of  Union,  they  never  have  been  a  constitu 
tional  part  of  it.  And  this  is  all  the  act  in  reference  to  them  declares. 

"Nor  is  there,  as  the  protestants  declare,  an  excommunication  of  four 
or  five  hundred  ministers.  The  act  itself  asserts  the  contrary.  As  there 
was  no  judicial  process  instituted  against  them,  no  citations  were  neces 
sary.  Without  impeaching  the  character  or  standing  of  the  brethren 
composing  these  Synods,  this  Assembly,  by  a  legislative  act,  merely  de 
clares  them,  in  consequence  of  the  abrogation  of  the  Plan  of  Union  of 
1801,  no  longer  a  constituent  part  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church  in  the  United  States. 

"2.  When  resolutions  were  before  the  house  for  the  citation  of  judi 
catures  to  the  bar  of  the  next  Assembly,  charged  by  common  fame  with 
sanctioning  errors  in  doctrine  and  irregularities  in  practice,  the  protest- 
ants  unanimously  opposed  them.  And  now  they  complain  that  they  were 
not  thus  cited. 

"  8.  The  compact  of  the  Assembly  of  1808  with  the  Synod  of  Albany, 
in  reference  to  the  '  Middle  Association/  is  as  unconstitutional  as  the 
Plan  of  Union  of  1801 ;  and  the  fact  stated  by  the  protestants,  that  two 
large  Presbyteries  were  made  out  of  that  Middle  Association,  and  that 
commissioners  from  said  Association  were  admitted  to  the  floor  of  the 
Assembly  as  members,  only  proves  the  constitutionality  of  the  act  against 
which  they  complain.  So  that  their  third  specification  of  grievance  con 
tains  its  own  answer. 

"  4.  The  contrary  of  their  fourth  specification  of  grievance  is  believed 
and  proved  to  be  the  fact.  The  great  majority  of  the  churches  of  these 
Synods  were  formerly  Congregational;  and  the  great  majority  of  those 
of  them  now  Presbyterian  retain  much  of  their  Congregational  pecu 
liarities  and  prejudices.  They  almost  unanimously  prefer  the  institu 
tions  of  the  Church  they  have  abandoned,  to  those  of  the  Church  of  their 
adoption.  They  are  in  form  Presbyterian,  but  in  prejudice,  and  in  fact, 
Congregational. 

11  5.  As  no  charge  was  brought  against  any  minister  or  ministers,  that 
they  were  irregularly  inducted  into  the  office  of  the  ministry,  no  proof 
was  needed  to  sustain  it.  The  charge  is,  not  that  they  were  irregularly 
inducted  into  the  Christian  ministry,  but  that  they  were  unconstitution 
ally  connected  with  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  6.  The  papers  complained  of  were  official  papers,  published  over  the 
signatures  of  stated  clerks  of  Presbyteries,  and  committees  of  Synods 
and  Associations.  The  resolutions  complained  of  were  thirty-six  hours 
under  debate,  and  more  than  one-half  of  the  time  was  occupied  by  those 


492  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

opposed  to  their  adoption.  A  brother,  in  the  midst  of  an  argument, 
yielded  the  floor,  that  the  protestants  might  make  what  statements  they 
thought  proper ;  but  none  were  made.  The  previous  question  was  once 
withdrawn,  for  the  same  purpose;  and  they  were  yet  silent.  And  yet 
they  complain  because  no  time  was  given — that  they  were  put  down  by 
the  previous  question  ! ! 

11  7.  This  is  founded  on  the  supposition  that  they  were  constitutional 
parts  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  that  the  act  by  which  they  were 
declared  to  be  no  longer  a  constitutional  part  of  it,  is  not  a  legislative, 
but  a  judicial  act.  Both  of  which  suppositions  are  incorrect. 

"8.  The  evidence  of  great  errors  in  doctrine  and  gross  irregularities 
in  practice  prevailing  to  an  alarming  extent  within  the  bounds  of  said 
Synods,  and  if  not  countenanced,  certainly  unsuppressed  by  them,  is 
before  the  Church  and  the  world. 

"  9.  This  is  a  mere  expression  of  opinion  by  the  protestants,  to  which, 
in  this  free  country,  every  man  has  an  undoubted  right. 

"  10.  In  the  resolution  complained  of,  this  Assembly  merely  tenders 
its  advice  to  the  ministers  and  churches  sincerely  Presbyterian,  and 
points  them  to  the  constitutional  door,  by  which  they  may  speedily  return 
to  the  Church  of  their  preference  and  affection." — Minutes.  1837,  pp. 
466,  467. 


17.  Dissolution  of  the  Third  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. 

"  Be  it  resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America : 

"  1.  That  the  Third  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  be,  and  is  hereby 
dissolved. 

"  2.  That  the  territory  embraced  in  this  Presbytery  is  reannexed  to 
those  to  which  it  respectively  appertained  before  its  creation.  Its  stated 
clerk  is  directed  to  deposit  all  the  records  and  other  papers  in  the  hands 
of  the  stated  clerk  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  on  or  before  the  first 
day  of  the  sessions  of  that  Synod,  at  its  first  meeting  after  this  Assembly 
adjourns. 

"  3.  The  candidates  and  foreign  missionaries  of  the  Third  Presbytery 
of  Philadelphia  are  hereby  attached  to  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. 

"4.  The  ministers,  churches,  arid  licentiates  in  the  Presbytery  hereby 
dissolved,  are  directed  to  apply,  without  delay,  to  the  Presbyteries  to 
which  they  most  naturally  belong,  for  admission  into  them.  And  upon 
application  being  so  made  by  any  duly  organized  Presbyterian  Church, 
it  shall  be  received. 

"  5.  These  resolutions  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  the  final  adjourn- 


THE   EXSCINDING   ACTS.  493 

ment  of  the  present  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly."    [Yeas,  75 ; 
nays,  GO.]— Minutes,  1837,  p.  472. 

18.  Protest  against  the  foregoing  Action. 

"  The  undersigned,  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  present  the 
following  protest  against  the  resolutions  of  the  General  Assembly,  by 
which  the  Third  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  has  been  dissolved,  and 
for  the  following  reasons  : 

"  1.  Because  the  said  resolutions  are  contrary  to  the  acts  of  several 
successive  General  Assemblies,  by  which  said  Presbytery  was,  as  we 
believe,  constitutionally  created,  and  has  been  sustained.  This  Presbytery 
was  formed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1832, — justly  said  to  have  been 
one  of  the  ablest  Assemblies  that  ever  sat  in  this  city;  and  that  too 
after  long,  full,  and  able  discussion  as  to  the  constitutionality  of  creating 
it,  the  Assembly  having  deemed  it  the  only  effectual  and  constitutional 
way  of  suppressing  the  protracted  and  painful  disputes  among  the 
brethren  in  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. 

"Nor  was  this  done  until  the  Synod  had  refused  to  take  steps  for  the 
division  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  as  directed  by  the  Assembly 
of  1831,  and  the  case  had  been  brought  up  before  the  Assembly  by 
complaint  and  petition,  and  by  the  reference  of  the  Synod.  Subsequently 
this  Presbytery  having  been  dissolved  by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  was 
restored  by  the  Assembly  in  1834.  In  1836,  the  Assembly  assigned 
geographical  limits  to  this  Presbytery,  in  the  belief  and  with  the  general 
understanding,  that  it  was  to  terminate  the  dispute  in  relation  to  its 
alleged  un constitutional  existence,  on  the  ground  of  elective  affinity. 
Here  it  was  hoped  this  Presbytery  would  have  been  permitted  to  pursue 
their  labors  without  further  molestation.  We  therefore  regard  it  as  not 
only  doing  injury  to  the  Presbytery,  but  as  being  contrary  to  the  re 
peatedly  expressed  decisions  of  the  collected  wisdom  of  the  whole  Church, 
and  utterly  subversive  of  all  stability  in  our  government,  when  the  case 
had  been  fairly  before  them  and  fully  discussed,  again  to  disturb  the 
organization  of  this  Presbytery  and  agitate  the  churches  of  this  city. 

"2.  We  protest  against  the  dissolution  of  this  Presbytery,  on  the 
ground  of  its  having  been  originally  a  mere  elective  affinity  body,  for  this 
principle  has  been  recognized  and  acted  upon  by  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  this  country  for  nearly  a  century,  as  a  means  of  terminating  painful 
disputes  among  brethren  of  the  same  Presbytery.  It  is  a  thing  of  frequent 
occurrence,  to  allow  a  minister  unpleasantly  situated,  either  from  local 
circumstances  or  otherwise,  to  withdraw  and  connect  himself  with  another 
Presbytery. 

"  3.  Because  the  objections  urged  against  the  existence  of  this  Pres 
bytery,  on  the  ground  of  its  alleged  defective  geographical  limits,  are 
wholly  without  foundation,  inasmuch  as  the  geographical  boundaries  are 
completely  and  throughout  its  whole  extent  accurately  defined,  so  that  its 


494  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

future  operations  are  restricted  within  limits  much  more  distinctly  defined 
than  either  of  the  two  other  Presbyteries  in  this  city. 

"  4.  We  protest  against  the  resolution,  because  of  its  unconstitution- 
ality,  inasmuch  as  the  Presbytery  has  been  dissolved  without  being 
accused,  cited,  tried,  or  condemned,  and  that  too  without  any  opportunity 
of  defence,  and  in  a  manner  as  sudden  and  unexpected,  as  it  has  been 
in  our  apprehension  contrary  to  justice  and  right ;  and  inasmuch  as  it 
may  have  the  effect  to  exclude  from  the  Presbyterian  Church  some  of 
its  ministers  in  good  standing,  without  the  benefit  of  those  forms  of 
justice  which  our  Book  of  Discipline  provides  shall  be  respected  in  all 
processes  affecting  the  reputation  of  ministers,  and  guarantees  to  all. 

"  5.  Because  the  resolution  was  passed  after  four  Synods  had  been 
cut  off,  thus  taking  fifty-one  commissioners  from  the  floor  of  the  Assem 
bly,  and  thus  dismembering  the  body,  which  we  feel  to  be  the  more 
grievous,  because,  had  the  thing  been  attempted  before  such  dismember 
ment,  it  could  not  have  been  carried. 

"  6.  We  protest,  finally,  because  of  the  contentions  which  we  fear  it 
will  excite  again  in  this  city,  and  which  we  had  hoped  had  happily 
ceased.  The  Presbytery  was  at  peace  and  peacefully  pursuing  its  course. 
Its  plans  of  usefulness  have  thus  been  broken  up.  Its  way  is  embarrassed. 
The  churches  under  its  care  are  thrown  into  perplexity  and  confusion, 
and  in  our  apprehension  serious  injury  will  be  inflicted  on  the  interests 
of  religion  in  this  city. 

"  John  P.  Cleaveland,  William  Jessup,  Robert  Stuart,  Frederick 
W.  Graves,  James  I.  Ostrom,  E.  W.  Gilbert,  E.  Seymour,  Am 
brose  White,  George  Painter,  John  L.  Grant,  N.  C.  Clork,  E. 
Cheever,  Bliss  Burnap,  George  Duffield.  T.  D.  Southworth, 
Thomas  Brown,  Burr  Bradley,  N.  S.  S.  Beman,  Alexander 
Campbell,  John  Mines,  Absalom  Peters,  Jacob  Faris,  Samuel 
Reed,  Wilfred  Hall,  Adam  Wilier. "—Minutes,  1837,  pp.  486- 
488. 


19.  Answer  to  the  Protest. 

"Resolved,  That  the  protest  respecting  the  dissolution  of  the  Third 
Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  is  sufficiently  answered  by  stating  that  the 
reasonings  which  it  contains  are  foreign  from  the  grounds  on  which  the 
question  was  decided ;  that  the  evidence  before  this  Assembly,  establish 
ing  the  evil  effects  of  the  existence  of  this  Presbytery,  is  ample  j  that 
the  principle  on  which  it  was  formed,  and  on  which  it  has  existed  up  to 
this  time,  viz.,  that  of  elective  affinity,  is  now  on  all  hands  admitted  to 
be  unconstitutional;  and  lastly,  that  being  originally  formed  by  the 
Assembly,  none  can  question  the  right  of  that  body  to  dissolve  it,  when 
ever  its  continued  existence  is  found  to  be  injurious  to  truth  and 
charity."— Minutes,  1837,  p.  488. 


PERTAINING   TO   THE   DIVISION.  495 


SECTION  3. — PERTAINING  TO  THE  DIVISION. 

1.  Pastoral  letter  to  the  churches  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly,  1837. — 
2.  Circular  letter  to  the  Churches  of  Christ. — 3.  Assembly  of  1838.  Organization 
of  the  Assembly. — 4.  Demand  for  the  records,  books,  papers,  &c.  of  the  General 
Assembly.  The  demand  refused. — 5.  Trustees  elected. — 6.  Committee  of  Twelve 
appointed -with  power  to  advise  and  direct. — 7.  The  Assembly  willing  to  agree 
to  any  reasonable  measure  for  the  amicable  adjustment  of  difficulties. — 8.  Pas 
toral  letter  to  the  churches  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly,  1838. — 9. 
Report  of  the  Committee  of  Twelve.  Articles  of  agreement  proposed.  Result 
of  the  trial  at  law.  Charge  of  the  court. — 10.  A  declaration  of  the  General 
Assembly,  setting  forth  its  present  position  and  its  causes. — 11.  Withdrawal  of 
the  suits  at  law. — 12.  The  roll  of  the  Assembly  rectified. — 13.  Proposal  to  unite 
in  communion  ;  refused. — 14.  Committee  of  Correspondence  appointed.  The 
result. — 15.  Detail  of  efforts  for  a  harmonious  understanding. 

1.  Pastoral  Letter  to  the  Churches  wider  the  Care  of  the  General 
Assembly,  1837. 

[Adopted  by  the  majority  of  the  Assembly  of  1837,  after  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Exscinding  Acts. — Minutes,  1837,  p.  479.] 

"  DEAR  BRETHREN  :  As  the  doings  of  the  present  General  Assembly 
have  been  of  unusual  character,  and  such  as  may  produce  important 
consequences,  we  think  it  proper  to  lay  an  abstract  of  our  decisions  and 
the  reasons  of  them  before  the  churches  under  our  care.  Discerning 
men  have  perceived  for  a  number  of  years,  that  the  affairs  of  our  beloved 
Church  were  hastening  to  a  crisis ;  and  when  the  members  of  the  present 
Assembly  came  together,  the  state  of  parties  was  such  as  to  make  it 
manifest,  that  a  division  of  the  Church  was  the  most  desirable  object 
that  could  be  effected.  What  are  called  the  Old  School  and  New  School 
parties  are  already  separated  in  fact;  in  almost  every  part  of  our  country 
where  those  parties  exist,  they  have  less  ministerial  or  Christian  com 
munion  with  one  another  than  either  of  those  parties  have  with  Christians 
of  other  denominations;  and  they  are  so  equally  balanced  in  point  of 
power,  that  for  years  past  it  has  been  uncertain,  until  the  General 
Assembly  was  fully  organized,  which  of  those  parties  would  predominate 
in  that  body. 

"  From  these  circumstances,  as  well  as  from  other  things  not  necessary 
to  mention,  it  is  known  to  our  brethren,  that  the  floor  of  our  highest 
judicatory,  as  well  as  of  our  Synods  and  Presbyteries,  has,  for  years, 
presented  scenes  of  contention  and  strife  such  as  many  of  us  never 
expected  to  witness  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  such  as  are  highly 
disgraceful  to  our  Christian  character.  This  spirit  of  contention  deprives 
the  Church  of  all  power  for  maintaining  the  purity  of  her  standards,  and 
securing  that  wholesome  instruction,  either  in  our  pulpits  or  presses, 


496  XII. — THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

which  would  conduce  to  the  edification  of  the  body  of  Christ;  and  until 
the  parties  are  separated  and  formed  into  different  denominations,  there 
is  no  ground  of  hope  that  these  contentions  can  be  terminated. 

"  So  fully  was  this  Assembly  convinced,  that  a  separation  of  the 
parties  was  the  only  cure  for  the  evils  under  which  we  labor,  that  a  com 
mittee  was  appointed  by  common  consent,  composed  of  equal  numbers 
from  the  different  sides  of  the  house,  to  adjust  if  possible  the  terms  of 
an  amicable  division  of  the  Church  into  two  separate  and  independent 
denominations.  This  joint  committee  agreed  upon  the  principles  of  the 
division,  but  could  not  agree  upon  the  form.  It  was  admitted  on  all 
hands,  that  the  Old  School  party  should  retain  the  name  and  the  funds 
of  the  Church,  and  especially  all  the  funds  and  property  connected  with 
the  Theological  Seminaries  at  Princeton  and  Pittsburg.  But  on  the 
mode  of  separation  the  committee  could  not  agree.  The  New  School 
party  would  consent  to  no  other  plan  than  that  of  referring  it  to  the 
Presbyteries,  in  order  to  have  the  division  made  by  the  next  General 
Assembly.  To  this  plan  the  other  party  thought  there  were  insuperable 
objections.  It  was  believed  that,  our  Presbyteries  being  so  widely  dis 
persed,  the  returns  from  them  would  be  uncertain;  that  many  things 
might  occur  to  defeat  the  arrangement ;  and  that,  as  the  probable  result, 
the  parties  would  come  to  the  next  Assembly,  with  more  determination 
to  contend  for  the  power  and  government  of  the  whole  Church  than  on 
any  former  occasion. 

"On  reviewing  the  causes  from  which  our  troubles  have  arisen, 
another  plan  presented  itself  to  the  view  of  the  majority,  which  appeared 
better  calculated  to  effect,  in  a  peaceable  manner,  that  division  of  the 
Church  which  all  seemed  to  consider  as  a  matter  of  indispensable  neces 
sity.  The  contentions  which  distract  the  Church  evidently  arose  from 
the  Plan  of  Union  formed  in  1801,  between  the  General  Assembly  and 
the  Association  of  Connecticut.  This  Plan  was  indeed  projected  and 
brought  into  operation  by  some  of  the  wisest  and  best  men  the  Presby 
terian  Church  has  ever  known,  and  it  evidently  originated  from  the 
purest  and  most  benevolent  motives.  It  has,  however,  been  disastrous 
in  its  effects.  We  mean  no  disrespect  to  the  Congregationalists  of  New 
England,  as  such ;  indeed  there  is  no  denomination  of  Christians  beyond 
the  pale  of  our  own  Church  whom  we  esteem  and  love  more  sincerely; 
and  yet  we  believe  that  the  attempt,  by  this  Plan  of  Union,  to  bring 
Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians  into  the  same  denomination,  has 
been  the  principal  cause  of  those  dissensions  which  now  distract  and 
rend  the  Church  to  pieces. 

"  We  allude  to  these  circumstances,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  ex 
plaining  the  only  remedy  which  appears  applicable  to  our  present 
troubles.  The  Plan  of  Union  adopted  in  1801,  was  evidently  unconsti 
tutional  in  its  nature,  and  of  a  tendency  to  subvert  the  institutions  and 
distinctive  character  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  and  such  being  the 
fact,  it  was  certainly  the  duty  of  the  present  Assembly  to  abrogate  said 
Plan,  and  to  declare  it  void  from  the  beginning.  From  this  act  of  abro 
gation,  and  from  the  declaration  that  it  was  void  from  the  beginning,  it 


PASTORAL   LETTER.  497 

would  necessarily  follow,  that  the  churches,  Presbyteries,  and  Synods 
formed  under  said  Plan,  were  of  course  not  to  be  considered  as  parts  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  From  this  view  of  the  subject  it  appears, 
that  the  separation,  so  necessary  for  the  well-being  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  exists  already,  and  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  act  on  the 
facts  of  the  case  to  secure  our  tranquillity. 

"In  the  first  place,  we  have  said  that  the  act  of  Union  of  1801  was 
unconstitutional.  It  will  be  admitted  that  the  most  fundamental  and 
sound  parts  of  the  constitution  of  any  community,  are  those  parts  which 
form  the  legislative  and  judicial  councils  of  the  community,  and  desig 
nate  the  qualifications  of  the  members  of  said  councils.  These  are  parts 
of  the  government,  in  all  societies,  deemed  too  sacred  to  be  touched  by 
any  authority,  excepting  that  which  can  make  and  unmake  the  consti 
tution  at  its  pleasure.  Should  any  authority  in  the  United  States  assume 
to  introduce  into  the  State  legislatures  or  Congress,  men  not  constitu 
tionally  qualified,  and  who  were  subjects  of  another  political  power,  the 
alarm  would  be  given  at  once  that  a  most  violent  outrage  had  been  in 
flicted  on  our  governments  and  our  rights.  And  although  we  would  say 
it  with  respect,  yet  we  must  say,  that  this  was  the  very  thing  which  the 
act  of  1801  effected  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
By  that  act,  committee-men  belonging  to  the  Congregational  Church, 
and  under  its  government,  were  introduced  into  our  Presbyteries,  and 
by  the  subsequent  execution  of  the  act,  into  our  Synods  and  our  General 
Assembly.  Men  who  were  under  the  authority  of  a  body  without  our 
Church,  exercised  the  highest  power  of  the  Church.  This  was  a^  most 
palpable  infraction  of  our  Constitution. 

"  In  the  next  place,  all  the  churches  formed  and  constituted  under 
the  operation  of  this  act,  were  at  least  as  much  trained  in  doctrine  and 
church  order  on  the  Congregational  as  on  the  Presbyterian  plan,  and 
had  just  as  much  preparation  for  becoming  members  of  a  Congregational 
as  of  a  Presbyterian  church ;  and  therefore  any  subsequent  acts  of  any 
of  our  judicatories,  forming  such  churches  into  Presbyteries  or  Synods, 
and  connecting  them  with  us  as  constituent  parts  of  our  body,  were  un 
constitutional.  This  has  been  the  source  of  all  our  present  evils  :  the 
raising  up  of  Presbyteries  and  Synods  out  of  men  who  had  at  least  as 
much  of  the  Congregational  as  Presbyterian  character,  has  scattered  the 
elements  of  discord  through  all  our  regions,  and  torn  our  afflicted  Church 
to  pieces.  These  indeed  were  consequences  not  perceived  from  the 
beginning;  it  required  the  light  of  experience  to  teach  us,  that  the 
amalgamation  of  such  bodies  as  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
would  produce  a  ferment  sufficient  to  agitate  the  whole  American  nation. 

"  Having  traced  thus  far  the  unconstitutional  and  pernicious  tendency 
of  this  act,  it  only  remains  to  say,  that  when  this  act  is  abrogated  by  the 
proper  authority,  as  a  matter  of  course  everything  which  arose  under  its 
influence  and  training  is  abrogated  with  it.  This  we  presume  is  the 
ground  on  which  all  the  jurisprudence  of  our  country  stands,  and  upon 
which  all  our  political  courts  and  legislatures  act.  It  has  indeed  been 

32 


498  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

said,  that  when  an  unconstitutional  law  forms  a  contract,  the  abrogation 
of  the  law  cannot  set  the  contract  aside,  as  this  would  suppose  that  a, 
person  might  take  the  advantage  of  his  own  wrong  to  relieve  himself 
from  a  just  obligation.  But  to  this  it  may  be  answered,  that  an  uncon 
stitutional  law  can  give  rise  to  no  binding  contract.  The  unconstitu- 
tionality  supposes  that  the  organ  of  government  is  granting  what  it  has 
no  right  to  grant,  and  therefore  no  obligation  can  be  imposed.  But  in 
the  present  case,  the  act  in  question  goes  to  the  subversion  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church,  and  therefore  any  contract  which  could  arise  under  it, 
calculated  to  destroy  that  Church,  would  be  of  such  an  immoral  tendency 
as  could  impose  no  obligation.  It  is -one  of  the  first  principles  of  morals, 
that  an  unlawful  contract  is  not  to  be  fulfilled. 

"  It  then  appears  plain  to  us,  that,  by  the  abrogation  of  the  act  of 
1801,  the  Synods  of  the  Western  Reserve,  Utica,  Genesee,  and  Geneva, 
are  independent  bodies,  standing  on  their  own  ground,  and  free  to  choose 
their  future  connections,  and  that  thus  far  a  separation  exists  between 
us  and  them,  which  may  greatly  conduce  to  the  peace  and  comfort  of 
both  parties }  and  as  both  the  majority  and  minority  agree  in  expressing 
the  opinion,  that  a  division  of  the  Church  in  conformity  with  the  sym 
pathies  of  the  present  parties,  was  both  desirable  and  expedient,  we  were 
much  surprised  to  find,  that  the  minority  would  not  agree  with  us  in 
carrying  out  the  existing  separation,  so  as  to  form  the  Church  into  two 
distinct  bodies,  either  of  which  would  be  sufficiently  large  to  form  a 
General  Assembly,  and  which  might  act  peaceably  in  promoting  the 
common  interests  of  our  Redeemer's  kingdom.  In  our  present  connec 
tion,  there  is  no  hope  of  peace.  The  controversy  threatens  to  become 
more  fierce,  more  extensive,  and  more  destructive  of  all  the  vital  prin 
ciples  of  religion,  the  longer  we  continue  together.  Indeed,  the  great 
motives  for  all  the  measures  of  separation  to  which  we  have  resorted  on 
the  present  occasion,  are  the  peace,  prosperity,  and  holiness  of  our  beloved 
Church;  and  these  objects,  we  believe,  can  never  be  obtained  until  this 
separation  is  effected. 

"  Our  brethren  of  the  minority  seemed  to  consider  it  as  an  insult,  when 
we  urged  the  fact,  that  the  abrogation  of  an  unconstitutional  law  left  us 
as  distinct  and  separate  bodies  :  we  intended  no  insult ;  the  ground  we 
took  and  the  language  we  used  implied  none ;  we  only  said  that  they 
were  separate  from  us,  and  we  from  them  :  if  this  implied  disgrace  on 
them,  it  implied  the  same  on  ourselves;  we  wished  both  parties  to  con 
sider  themselves  as  on  equal  ground ;  and  as  to  the  unconstitutional  law 
from  which  all  our  misapprehensions  had  arisen,  we  were  willing  that 
the  greater  blame  should  lie  on  us.  In  fact,  our  wish  was  and  is  to  part 
as  brethren,  and  as  in  certain  important  points  of  doctrine  and  church 
order  we  cannot  agree,  let  each  party  take  the  word  of  God  as  their  rule 
of  faith  and  practice,  and  pursue  their  course  as  those  who  must  give 
account  to  the  great  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  their  souls. 

"  We  have  now,  dear  brethren,  briefly  explained  the  reasons  for  the 
course  we  have  taken  on  the  present  occasion,  and  we  believe  it  would 


CIRCULAR   LETTER.  499 

have  been  a  blessing  to  our  Church,  if  the  measures  now  adopted  had 
been  resorted  to  at  an  earlier  period.  The  progress  of  controversy  has 
greatly  destroyed  brotherly  confidence.  Indeed,  the  union  between  the 
parties,  for  several  years,  has  only  existed  in  name ;  in  fact  they  have 
been  two  separate  bodies,  and  we  believe  the  sooner  they  are  brought  to 
consider  themselves  as  forming  distinct  denominations,  the  sooner  will 
they  return  to  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

"We  must  observe,  in  conclusion,  that  on  whatever  side  the  principal 
fault  of  our  present  disturbances  may  lie,  the  whole  Church  has  abundant 
cause  of  deep  humiliation  and  repentance  before  Almighty  God.  Our 
calamities  have  not  arisen  from  the  dust;  our  Heavenly  Father  has 
stretched  forth  his  hand  over  us,  and  let  us  acknowledge  'the  rod  and 
him  that  hath  appointed  it.;  Let  us  return  to  him  that  he  may  return 
to  us ;  if  he  has  wounded,  it  is  he  alone  that  can  heal ;  if  he  hatb 
broken  down,  he  can  build  us  up. 

"  By  order  of  the  General  Assembly.  " , 

"  DAVID  ELLIOTT,  Moderator. 

"JOHN  McDowELL,  Stated  Clerlt. 
"PHILADELPHIA,  June  8th,  1837." 

—Minutes,  pp.  499,  502.. 

2.    Circular  Letter  to  the  Churches  of  Christ. 

"  Mr.  Breckinridge,  from  the  committee  to  prepare  a  letter  to  be- 
addressed  to  all  the  Churches  of  Christ  Jesus  throughout  the  earth, 
made  a  report,  which  was  read,  accepted,  and  adopted"  [by  the  majority 
of  the  Assembly  of  1837,  after  the  passage  of  the  Exscinding  Acts,  as 
follows  :]— Minutes,  1837,  p.  494. 
"The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 

States  of  America,  to  all  the  Churches  of  Jesus  Christ,  wish  grace, 

mercy,  and  peace  from  God,  the  Father,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,. 

through  the  Eternal  Spirit : 

"  VERY  DEAR  BRETHREN  :  Assembled  by  the  good  providence  of  God,  as  the 
supreme  judicatory  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  Ame 
rica,  constituting  by  our  ecclesiastical  organization,  not  only  'the  bond  of 
union,  peace,  correspondence,  and  mutual  confidence  among  all  our  churches/ 
but  also  the  only  organ  '  of  correspondence  with  foreign  Churches,'  we  cannot 
consent  to  separate,  after  the  unusually  long,  interesting,  and  important  session 
which  we  are  about  to  close,  without  pouring  out  the  fulness  of  our  hearts  in 
reference  to  the  weighty  matters  concerning  which  we  have  been  called  to  act 
since  we  came  together,  into  the  ears  and  bosoms  of  all  other  Christian 
Churches,  and  especially  those  with  which  we  are  in  friendly  correspondence.. 

"  You  cannot  be  ignorant,  clear  brethren,  that  for  a  number  of  years  past,. 
the  friends  of  truth  and  of  regular  Presbyterian  order  in  our  beloved  Zion 
have  been  filled  with  painful  apprehension  at  the  manifest  departure  from  our 
ecclesiastical  standards  which  appeared  to  be  gaining  ground  in  a  number  of 
our  judicatories.  Firmly  believing  that  the  great  purpose  for  which  the  Church) 
was  founded  was,  that  she  might  maintain  in  their  purity  the  doctrines  and 
discipline  of  Christ,  and  hold  them  forth  to  a  dark  world  j  we  have  thought 


500  XII. — THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

ourselves  called  upon  to  make  inquiry  respecting  the  errors  and  disorders 
alleged  to  exist,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  to  banish  them  from  that  portion,  of 
the  professing  family  of  Christ  with  which  we  are  connected.  You  have  wit 
nessed  for  a  number  of  successive  years  our  struggles  for  the  attainment  of 
this  object.  You  have  witnessed  the  mortifying  disappointments  which,  from 
time  to  time,  have  attended  our  efforts  to  obtain,  by  constitutional  means,  a 
redress  of  the  grievances  of  which  we  complained.  You  have  seen  what  we 
regard  as  error  becoming  more  extensive  in  its  prevalence,  and  more  bold  and 
overbearing  in  its  claims.  You  have  seen  certain  voluntary  societies,  under 
the  cover  of  professed  zeal  for  the  doctrines  and  order  of  our  Church,  in  fact  if 
not  in  intention,  gradually  subverting  both.  You  have  heard  the  motives  of 
the  friends  of  truth  reproached  5  their  name  cast  out  as  evil ;  their  zeal  for 
maintaining  the  purity  of  the  Gospel  represented  as  a  mere  struggle  for  power  ; 
and  all  their  attempts  to  detect  and  censure  heresy  held  up  to  public  vieAV  as 
the  efforts  of  restless  and  ambitious  men  to  gain  the  pre-eminence  for  them 
selves.  Amidst  these  ineffectual  attempts  to  banish  error  and  to  restore  order, 
vital  piety  has  languished  ;  mutual  confidence  has  disappeared  ;  the  reviving 
and  converting  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  have  been  withheld  ;  and  our  time 
and  strength  have  been  painfully  occupied  with  strife  and  debate,  instead  of 
being  wholly  given  to  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  and  the  conversion  of  the  world. 

"  We  shall  not  stop  to  inquire  by  whose  agency  or  by  what  steps  this  state 
of  things  has  been  produced.  The  adjustment  of  the  proper  award  in  regard 
to  this  question  might  be  deemed  an  invidious  task,  and  fail  of  commanding 
universal  assent.  But  on  the  deplorable  character  of  the  situation  in  which  we 
were  placed,  there  can  be  but  one  opinion.  Over  our  conflicts  every  friend  of 
religion  has  mourned ;  every  intelligent  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
has  felt  grieved  and  humbled ;  and  we  were  becoming  a  reproach  among  all 
surrounding  denominations.  To  every  enlightened  beholder  it  has  been  long 
manifest  that  parties  so  heterogeneous  and  discordant  could  no  longer  act 
together  in  the  same  body,  either  with  comfort  to  themselves,  or  with  honor 
and  edification  to  the  cause  of  our  common  Christianity. 

"  Such  has  been  our  melancholy  history,  especially  for  the  last  six  years, 
and  such  were  the  discouraging  and  distressing  circumstances  in  which  this 
Assembly  convened.  On  coming  together,  it  was  found  to  contain  such  a 
decided  majority  of  the  friends  of  truth  and  order  as  to  place  within  our  reach 
the  most  thorough  measures  of  reform.  And  it  is  worthy  of  special  notice, 
that  this  majority  was  created  and  brought  together  in  full  view  of  the  mea 
sures  adopted  by  the  orthodox  Assembly  of  18H5,  and  of  all  the  conflicts  and 
painful  disclosures  which  characterized  the  Assembly  of  1836.  It  was  after 
the  attention  of  the  whole  Church  had  been  strongly  called  to  these  measures 
and  disclosures,  that  our  Presbyteries  sent  a  delegation,  the  major  part  of 
whom  declared  in  favor  of  the  doctrines  and  order  of  our  body.  We  felt  our 
selves,  therefore,  distinctly  and  solemnly  called  upon  by  the  voice  of  the 
Church  to  go  forward  and  rescue  her  struggling  and  bleeding  interests  from 
that  humiliating  and  degrading  perversion  to  which  they  had  been  so  long 
exposed.  This  painful  duty  we  have  endeavored  to  perform  in  the  fear  of 
God,  and  although  we  do  not  claim  that  our  manner  of  discharging  it  has  been 
wholly  free  from  the  manifestation  of  human  infirmity,  we  do  hope  and  believe 
that  our  measures  have  been  accompanied  with  much  sincere  and  humble 
seeking  for  divine  direction ;  and  that  they  are  such  as  the  enlightened  and 
impartial  friends  of  our  ecclesiastical  Constitution  will  ultimately  approve. 

"  As  the  great  truths  of  the  Gospel  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  Christian 
hope,  as  well  as  of  the  purity  and  prosperity  of  the  Church,  we  feel  ourselves 
bound  to  direct  early  and  peculiarly  solemn  attention  to  those  doctrinal  errors 


CIRCULAR   LETTER.  501 

which,  there  was  but  too  much  evidence,  had  gained  an  alarming  prevalence 
in  some  of  our  judicatories.  The  advocates  of  these  errors,  on  their  first 
appearance,  were  cautious  and  reserved,  alleging  that  they  differed  in  words 
only  from  the  doctrines  as  stated  in  our  public  standards.  Very  soon,  how 
ever,  they  began  to  contend  that  their  opinions  were  really  new,  and  were  a 
substantial  and  important  improvement  on  the  old  creed  of  the  Church  ;  and, 
at  length,  that  revivals  of  religion  could  not  be  hoped  for,  and  that  the  souls 
of  men  must  be  destroyed,  if  the  old  doctrines  continued  to  be  preached.  The 
errors  thus  promulged  were,  by  no  means,  of  that  doubtful  or  unimportant 
character  which  seems  to  be  assigned  to  them  even  by  some  of  the  professed 
friends  of  orthodoxy.  You  will  see,  by  our  published  acts,  that  some  of  them 
affect  the  very  foundation  of  the  system  of  Gospel  truth,  and  that  they  all  bear 
relations  to  the  Gospel  plan  of  very  serious  and  ominous  import.  Surely, 
doctrines  which  go  to  the  formal  or  virtual  denial  of  our  covenant  relation  to 
Adam  ;  the  native  and  total  depravity  of  man  ;  the  entire  inability  of  the  sinner 
to  recover  himself  from  rebellion  and  corruption  5  the  nature  and  source  of 
regeneration  ;  and  our  justification  solely  on  account  of  the  imputed  righteous 
ness  of  the  Redeemer,  cannot,  upon  any  just  principle,  be  regarded  as  'minor 
errors.'  They  form,  in  fact,  l  another  Gospel ;'  and  it  is  impossible  for  those 
who  faithfully  adhere  to  our  public  standards  to  walk  with  those  who  adopt 
such  opinions,  with  either  comfort  or  confidence. 

"  It  cannot  be  denied,  indeed,  that  those  who  adopted  and  preached  these 
opinions,  at  the  same  time  declared  their  readiness  to  subscribe  our  Confession 
of  Faith,  and  actually  professed  their  assent  to  it,  in  the  usual  form,  without 
apparent  scruple.  This,  in  fact-,  was  one  of  the  most  revolting  and  alarming 
characteristics  of  their  position.  They  declared  that  in  doing  this,  they  only 
adopted  the  Confession  '  for  substance,'  and  by  no  means  intended  to  receive 
the  whole  system  which  it  contained.  Upon  this  principle,  we  had  good 
evidence  that  a  number  of  Presbyteries,  in  the  ordination  and  reception  of 
ministers  and  other  church  officers,  avowedly  and  habitually  acted ;  and  hence 
it  has  not  been  uncommon  for  the  members  of  such  Presbyteries  publicly  and 
formally  to  repudiate  some  of  the  important  doctrines  of  the  formulary  which 
they  had  thus  subscribed ;  and  even,  in  a  few  extraordinary  cases,  to  hold  up 
the  system  of  truth  which  it  contains  as  'an  abomination  ;'  as  a  system  which 
it  were  to  be  '  wished  had  never  had  an  existence.'  No  wonder  that  men  feel 
ing  and  acting  thus  should  have  been  found,  in  some  instances,  substituting 
entirely  different  Confessions  of  Faith  in  place  of  that  which  is  contained  in 
our  Constitution.  Who  can  doubt  that  such  a  method  of  subscribing  to  articles 
of  faith  is  immoral  in  principle  5  that  it  is  adapted  to  defeat  the  great  purpose 
of  adopting  confessions ;  and  that,  if  persisted  in,  it  could  not  fail  to  open  the 
door  of  our  Church  wider  and  wider  to  the  introduction  of  the  most  radical  and 
pestiferous  heresies,  which  would  speedily  destroy  her  character  as  an  evan 
gelical  body  ? 

"  Was  it  possible  for  us  to  doubt  or  hesitate  as  to  our  duty  when  such  errors 
were  evidently  gaining  ground  among  us,  and  when  it  was  in  our  power 
judicially  to  condemn  them — errors  which,  ever  since  the  days  of  the  apostles, 
have  been  pronounced  by  the  true  Church  to  be  dangerous  corruptions  of 
Gospel  truth  ?  We  are  conscious  that  in  pronouncing  the  errors  in  question 
to  be  unscriptural,  radical,  and  highly  dangerous,  we  are  actuated  by  no  feel 
ings  of  narrow  party  zeal,  but  by  a  firm  and  growing  persuasion  that  such 
errors  cannot  fail,  in  their  ultimate  effect,  to  subvert  the  foundation  of  Christian 
hope,  and  destroy  the  souls  of  men.  As  watchmen  on  the  walls  of  Zion,  we 
should  be  unfaithful  to  the  trust  reposed  in  us  were  we  not  to  cry  aloud  and 
proclaim  a  solemn  warning  against  opinions  so  corrupt  and  delusive. 


502  XII. — THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"  In  the  course  of  our  attempt  at  reform,  we  have  thought  it  our  duty  to 
annul  the  Plan  of  Union  between  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  Churches 
in  the  new  settlements  formed  in  1801,  and  evidently  intended  as  a  temporary 
system  to  meet  a  temporary  exigency.  By  that  Plan,  Congregational  Churches 
were  brought  into  complete  union  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  their 
delegates,  without  having  adopted  our  public  standards,  were  introduced  into 
our  judicatories,  and  vested  with  the  power  of  giving  authoritative,  and,  in 
some  cases,  decisive  votes  on  the  most  important  questions  of  doctrine  and 
discipline;  and  thus,  in  reality,  of  governing  our  Church.  And  it  has  hap 
pened,  in  fact,  in  a  number  of  instances,  that  some  of  the  most  important 
decisions,  in  their  bearing  on  the  truth  and  order  of  our  body,  have  been 
decided  by  the  votes  of  those  who  had  not  subscribed  to  our  ecclesiastical 
Constitution,  and  stood  aloof  themselves  from  its  authority.  Thus  Corigrega- 
tionalists  were  found,  in  effect,  to  control  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  to 
prohibit  her  carrying  into  execution  our  appropriate  system,  while  we  had  no 
more  authority  over  them  than  they  chose  to  recognize. 

"It  is  impossible  to  contemplate  this  Plan  of  Union  now  without  perceiving 
that  it  is  most  unnatural  in  its  character;  that  it  has  not  a  shadow  of  founda 
tion  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  that  it  is  adapted  to 
be  deeply  injurious  in  its  influence  on  us.  It  is  but  just,  indeed,  to  say,  that 
it  was  first  proposed  and  commenced  on  our  part,  and  that  it  was  dictated  by 
that  spirit  of  unsuspecting  simplicity  and  fraternal  confidence  which  foresaw 
no  evil.  Its  mischiefs  gradually  disclosed  themselves,  and  it  was  not  until 
they  had  taken  wide  and  deep  root,  that  they  began  to  attract  the  attention 
and  awaken  the  fears  of  the  friends  of  truth  and  of  Presbyterial  order.  It  was 
more  and  more  perceived,  not  only  that  this  system,  as  before  remarked,  was 
most  unequal,  as  it,  in  fact,  conceded  the  right  of  governing  us  to  those  over 
whom  we  could  exercise  no  controlling  power,  but  that  its  effect  must  be, 
slowly,  but  inevitably,  to  subvert  the  order  and  discipline  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  Surely  no  impartial  judge  can  blame  us  for  wishing  this  mischievous 
system  rescinded,  or  for  annulling  it  when  we  had  the  power.  It  is  due  to 
ourselves,  however,  to  say,  that  this  measure  was  not  either  hastily  conceived 
nor  abruptly  executed.  The  union  in  question  has  been  for  many  years  re 
garded  by  the  great  body  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  perhaps  the  most 
fertile  source  of  the  difficulties  existing  among  us,  especially  when  viewed,  not 
merely  as  a  violation  of  our  Constitution  and  an  invasion  of  our  order,  but  as 
grievously  abused  by  those  who  have  taken  advantage  of  it,  in  a  manner  not 
intended  by  its  original  framers,  to  disseminate  their  pernicious  errors.  View 
ing  the  subject  in  this  light,  the  General  Assembly  of  1835  respectfully  re 
quested  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  to  consent  that  the  Plan  of 
Union  in  question  should  be  annulled.  Having  now  waited  two  additional 
years  in  vain  for  any  favorable  action  in  the  case  on  the  part  of  our  brethren 
of  Connecticut,  and  having  witnessed  with  the  deepest  sorrow  the  ever-growing 
evils  of  this  relation,  we  have  felt  at  this  time  solemnly  called  upon  to  abrogate 
the  whole  Plan,  and  to  put  an  end,  as  far  as  in  us  lay,  to  the  destructive  effects 
which  have  so  long  resulted  from  its  operation. 

"  If  it  were  obviously  equitable  and  important  that  the  Plan  of  Union  alluded 
to  should  be  annulled,  it  was,  in  our  view,  no  less  equitable  and  important  that 
the  ecclesiastical  bodies  to  which  that  Plan  had  given  existence,  and  which 
were  animated  and  governed  by  its  spirit,  should  be  declared  to  be  no  longer 
connected  with  our  Church.  It  has  been  indeed  painful  to  the  Assembly  to 
declare  bodies,  in  which  were  brethren  whose  piety  we  cannot  question,  and 
whose  activity  in  extending  the  visible  Church  we  must  regard  with  approba 
tion,  to  be  no  longer  connected  with  our  body.  But  we  were  shut  up  to  this 


CIRCULAR   LETTER.  503 

painful  duty.  Being  irregularly  brought  into  our  Church,  and  retaining  all  the 
feelings  and  habits  growing  out  of  the  circumstances  of  their  original  introduc 
tion,  we  could  not  hope  that  they  would  walk  together  in  peace  with  us,  so  long 
as  the  points  of  difference  between  us  were  so  many  and  so  serious.  Although 
the  creation  of  more  churches  on  the  Plan  of  Union  was  made  to  cease  by  the 
previous  act  of  abrogation,  still,  as  all  must  grant  that  the  act  which  brought 
them  in  was  wholly  unconstitutional,  arid  as,  if  this  were  the  case,  the  act  itself 
was,  of  course,  void  from  the  beginning,  and  all  the  acts  and  bodies  growing 
out  cf  it  equally  void,  we  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  declare  the  brethren 
connected  with  those  judicatories  no  longer  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  Fully  aware  of  the  painfulness  of  this  decision  to  both  parties,  in 
order  to  avoid  it,  we  made  overtures  to  the  brethren  who  were  opposed  to  us 
in  sentiment  and  in  policy,  which  had  for  their  object  an  amicable  separation  ; 
offering  them,  in  order  to  bring  about  such  a  separation,  what  we  deemed 
equitable  and  even  indulgent  terms.  These  terms  will  be  learned  from  the 
correspondence  of  the  joint  committee  appointed  to  negotiate  on  the  subject, 
which  has  been  already  made  public.  Our  brethren  saw  fit  to  decline  our 
prcposal,  and  chose  rather  to  abide  the  enforcing  of  the  Constitution.  They 
cannot  complain  of  our  course,  when  the  only  alternative  was  the  ruin  of  the 
Church,  or  the  restoration  of  our  form  of  government  to  its  legitimate  and 
uniform  reign. 

"  We  are  aware  that  some  have  called  in  question  the  constitutionality  of  our 
proceedings.  On  this  subject,  the  more  maturely  we  reflect,  the  more  firmly 
are  we  persuaded  that  we  have  taken  the  most  eligible  and  even  the  only  prac 
ticable  course.  To  have  attempted  to  separate  from  us  the  brethren  with  whom 
we  could  no  longer  walk  in  peace,  by  personal  process  in  each  case,  would  ob 
viously  have  been  impossible,  and  even  if  possible,  tedious,  agitating,  and 
troublesome  in  the  highest  degree.  The  General  Assembly  is  vested  by  the 
Constitution  of  our  Church  with  plenary  power  'to  decide  in  all  controversies 
respecting  doctrine  and  discipline  ;  to  reprove,  warn,  or  bear  testimony  against 
error  in  doctrine  or  immorality  in  practice,  in  any  church,  Presbytery  or  Synod; 
to  superintend  the  concerns  of  the  whole  Church;  to  suppress  schismatical 
contentions  and  disputations;  and,  in  general,  to  recommend  and  attempt 
reformation  of  manners,  and  the  promotion  of  charity,  truth,  and  holiness, 
through  all  the  churches  under  their  care.'  It  is  manifest  that  no  other  body 
but  the  General  Assembly  is  competent  to  sit  in  judgment  on  a  Synod  ;  and  it 
is  equally  manifest  that  no  other  body  can  be  vested  with  power  to  abolish  a 
system  which  the  General  Assembly  itself  had  formed,  without  consulting  any 
of  the  Presbyteries.  We  have,  therefore,  not  hesitated  to  apply  the  constitu 
tional  remedy  in  its  fullest  extent.  And  now,  reposing  on  the  high  ground  of 
our  truly  primitive  and  apostolical  system  of  order,  we  appeal  with  unshaken 
confidence  to  the  sympathy  of  all  evangelical  Churches,  to  the  approval  of  the 
American  people,  and,  above  all,  to  the  sanction  of  Him  '  who  sits  as  King 
upon  the  holy  hill  of  Zion.' 

"  In  the  adoption  of  these  measures,  we  are  earnestly  desirous  that  our  views 
and  feelings  in  regard  to  our  Congregational  brethren  of  New  England  should 
be  correctly  understood.  We  have  no  controversy  with  them,  nor  do  we  desire 
to  have  any,  with  respect  to  the  Congregational  form  of  Church  government  as 
it  exists  among  themselves,  nor  with  any  other  form  of  Church  polity.  Toward 
the  excellent  brethren,  beloved  in  the  Lord,  in  those  and  all  other  Churches, 
who  are  now  testifying  against  the  errors  which  are  troubling  them,  as  they  are 
troubling  us,  we  entertain  the  most  cordial  esteem  and  fraternal  affection. 
They  are  engaged  in  the  same  hallowed  cause  with  ourselves,  and  we  cordially 
bid  them  God  speed.  Let  there  be  no  strife  between  us.  There  ought  to  be 


504  XII. — THE   DIVISION   OP   THE   CHURCH. 

none,  and  there  will  be  none,  so  long  as  there  is  no  effort  made  by  any  party 
to  intrude  on  the  domestic  concerns  of  any  other.  We  cannot  wisely  attempt, 
with  our  different  views  and  feelings,  to  inhabit  the  same  house;  but,  as  neigh 
bors,  we  niay  be  on  the  most  amicable  and  even  affectionate  terms.  We  wish 
for  no  more  than  to  be  allowed  the  fair  and  unimpeded  action  of  our  own  eccle 
siastical  principles.  We  desire  to  stand  on  our  own  responsibility,  and  not  to 
be  made  involuntary  sharers  in  the  responsibility  of  other  bodies  arid  systems 
of  action,  with  which  we  cannot  entirely  harmonize.  AVe  desire  to  perform  our 
Master's  work  upon  the  principles  which  we  conscientiously  prefer,  because  we 
believe  those  principles  to  be  found  in  the  word  of  God ;  and  we  cannot  con 
sent  to  an  alliance  with  any  individuals  or  bodies  of  men  in  their  system  of 
action,  without  reserving  to  ourselves  the  right  of  review,  of  control,  an3,  if 
necessary,  of  correction. 

"  It  is  our  earnest  hope,  with  respect  to  the  brethren  thus  severed  from  us. 
that  both  parties  will  be  essentially  benefited  by  the  separation.  We  trust 
that  both  will  henceforth  proceed  in  the  conscientious  discharge  of  duty,  with 
out  being  crippled  or  embarrassed  by  each  other  ;  and  that  hereafter  there  vill 
be  no  other  strife  between  us,  than  who  shall  love  the  Redeemer  most,  and  who 
shall  serve  him  with  the  warmest  zeal. 

"  We  have  already  adverted  to  the  unhappy  influence  which  has  been  exerted 
for  a  number  of  years  past,  by  certain  voluntary  societies,  which,  though  not 
responsible  to  any  Church,  and  of  course,  therefore,  not  to  us,  were  pursuing  a, 
train  of  measures  adapted  covertly,  but  effectually,  to  weaken  her  energies  and 
govern  her  proceedings.  We  believe  that  if  there- be  any  department  of  Chris 
tian  effort  to  which  the  Church  of  Christ  is  bound,  in  her  appropriate  character, 
to  direct  her  attention  and  her  unwearied  labors,  they  are  those  which  relate 
to  the  training  of  her  sons  for  the  holy  ministry,  and  sending  the  Gospel  to 
those  who  have  it  not,  and  planting  churches  in  the  dark  and  destitute  portions 
of  the  earth.  To  be  willing  to  commit  either  of  these  branches  of  her  pecu 
liar  work  to  foreign  and  irresponsible  hands,  we  are  more  and  more  persuaded 
is  unfaithfulness  to  the  best  interests  of  Zion,  and  adapted  fatally  to  injure  the 
cause  of  Gospel  truth  and  of  Presbyterial  order.  Surely,  if  the  Church  is 
under  obligations,  not  only  to  maintain  in  her  own  bosom,  but  also  to  impart 
as  far  as  possible  to  the  whole  world,  all  such  religious  knowledge,  worship, 
and  ordinances  as  God  hath  revealed  in  his  word,  she  is  bound  to  see  to  it,  that 
no  persons  shall  be  either  educated  or  sent  forth  as  ministers,  who  are  not  well 
instructed  in  her  doctrine  and  order,  and,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  firmly 
attached  to  both.  This  is  equally  a  dictate  of  duty  to  our  Master  in  heaven 
and  to  our  own  beloved  institutions.  To  suffer  boards  constituted  by  ourselves, 
pledged  to  adhere  to  our  own  standards,  and  responsible  to  our  own  judicato- 
ries,  to  languish  while  we  sustain  and  strengthen  societies  over  which  we  have 
no  control,  and  which  are  gradually  undermining  at  once  our  purity,  and,  of 
course,  our  real  strength,  while  professing  to  add  to  our  numbers,  would  be 
manifestly  as  unwise  as  it  would  be  criminal,  in  those  who  profess  to  love  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and' to  consider  her  as  conformed,  in  her  doctrine  and 
order,  to  the  apostolic  model. 

"  One  of  the  most  formidable  evils  of  the  present  crisis  is  the  wide-spread 
and  ever  restless  spirit  of  radicalism,  manifest  both  in  the  Church  and  in  the 
State.  Its  leading  principle  everywhere  seems  to  be  to  level  all  order  to  the 
dust.  Mighty  only  in  the  power  to  destroy,  it  has  driven  its  deep  agitations 
through  the  bosom  of  our  beloved  Church.  Amidst  the  multiplied  and  revolt 
ing  forms  in  which  it  has  appeared,  it  is  always  animated  by  one  principle. 
It  is  ever  the  same  levelling  revolutionary  spirit,  and  tends  to  the  same  ruinous 
results.  It  has,  in  succession,  driven  to  extreme  fanaticism  the  great  cause  of 


CIRCULAR   LETTER.  505 

revivals  of  religion,  of  temperance,  and  of  the  rights  of  man.  It  has  aimed  to 
transmute  our  pure  faith  into  destructive  heresy,  our  scriptural  order  into  con 
fusion  and  misrule.  It  has  crowded  many  of  our  churches  with  ignorant 
zealots  and  unholy  members,  driven  our  pastors  from  their  flocks,  and  with 
strange  fire  consumed  the  heritage  of  the  Lord,  filling  our  churches  with  con 
fusion,  and  our  judicatories  with  conflict;  making  our  venerated  name  and 
beloved  institutions,  so  far  as  its  fearful  influence  extends,  a  hissing  and  a  by 
word  before  the  American  people,  and  even  threatening  the  dissolution  of  our 
national  Union,  as  well  as  the  dismemberment  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  While  we  have  endeavored  to  take,  as  our  Master  enabled  us,  decisive 
measures  for  securing,  under  the  Divine  blessing,  the  future  purity  and  peace 
of  our  body,  we  would  openly  admit,  dear  brethren,  that  mere  orthodoxy  and 
regular  scriptural  government  ought  not  to  be  considered  by  any  Church  as 
the  only,  or  even  as  the  chief,  objects  of  her  regard.  Let  it  never  be  forgotten 
that  truth,  whether  in  respect  to  doctrine  or  discipline,  is  in  order  to  godliness, 
and  that  the  real  prosperity  and  glory  of  any  Church  consists  in  the  presence 
and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  enlightening,  reviving,  and  sanctifying  her  mem 
bers,  and  adding  to  their  numbers  daily  of  such  as  shall  be  saved.  We  would, 
therefore,  now  that  the  adorable  Head  of  the  Church  has  enabled  us  in  some 
measure  to  remove  from  our  body  the  rnpst  prominent  sources  of  division  and 
strife,  humble  ourselves  before  God,  and  call  upon  all  our  brethren,  of  every 
name,  with  us  to  seek  and  pray  without  ceasing  for  those  reviving  and  convert 
ing  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  alone  can  render  any  Church  what  it 
ought  to  be,  a  real  blessing  to  the  world  and  a  nursery  for  heaven.  And  while 
we  earnestly  desire  and  implore  this  blessing,  let  us  remember  the  great  im 
portance  of  distinguishing  between  genuine  revivals  of  religion,  and  those 
which  are  spurious  and  fanatical.  The  former  are  the  product  of  Gospel  truth, 
impressed  on  the  heart  and  conscience  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  The  latter  are 
mere  excitements  of  natural  feeling,  produced  either  by  error  or  by  some  other 
form  of  human  machinery.  In  proportion  as  the  former  prevail,  the  Church 
is  prosperous  and  happy.  The  latter,  however  arrogant  in  claim  or  plausible 
in  appearance,  are  only  fitted  to  send  a  blight  on  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  and 
to  deceive  and  destroy  the  souls  of  men.  We  fear  that  not  a  little  of  that  which 
has  assumed  the  precious  name  of  revivals,  in  various  parts  of  our  bounds,  is 
of  this  latter  description.  This  lamentable  fact,  however,  creates  no  prejudice 
in  our  minds  against  genuine  revivals  of  religion.  It  rather  excites  us  to  desire 
and  long  for  them  with  more  ardor;  to  pray  for  them  with  more  importunity; 
to  promote  them  with  more  care  by  an  edifying  example;  and  to  guard  against 
all  counterfeits  with  more  enlightened  vigilance. 

"  Brethren,  farewell.  May  the  God  of  Israel  bless  you  all — every  one.  We 
love,  with  tenderness  which  we  cannot  utter,  our  own  portion  of  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  But  we  love  also  every  other  portion  of  the  inheritance 
of  that  dear  Saviour,  and  rejoicing  in  the  confident  hope  that  heaven  will  ring 
with  praises  of  the  redeemed  from  amongst  every  Christian  denomination,  our 
ardent  and  constant  desire  is  to  draw  the  bonds  of  union  between  us  and  all 
the  rest  as  close  as  possible  here  below.  Hence  the  present  epistle  to  our 
brethren.  Hence  our  earnest  desire  to  explain  clearly  to  them  our  posture, 
our  action,  and  the  solemn  crisis  which,  having  first  overtaken  several  of  our 
sister  Churches,  has  at  length  fallen  upon  us,  and  will  unquestionably  overtake 
in  succession  all  denominations  of  Christians. 

"  And  now  may  God,  of  his  infinite  mercy,  set  the  seal  of  his  visible  appro 
bation  upon  what  his  providence  and  grace  have  enabled  us  to  do.  And  may 
you,  brethren,  be  preserved  from  the  evils  which  we  have  endured,  or  be  ena 
bled  to  meet  them,  with  more  promptitude  and  fidelity  than  we  have  done. 


506  XII. — THE   DIVISION   OP   THE   CHURCH. 

"  And  may  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  abide  richly  on  all  who  love 
his  holy  name. 

"  By  order  of  the  General  Assembly. 

"  DAVID  ELLIOTT,  Moderator. 
"  JOHN  McDowELL,  Stated  Clerk. 
"  PHILADELPHIA,  June  8th,  1837." 

—Minutes,  1837,  pp.  502-508. 

3.  Assembly  of  1838.      Organization  of  the  Assembly. 

"  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America  met,  agreeably  to  appointment,  in  the  7th  Presbyte 
rian  Church  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on  the  third  Thursday  of  May, 
1838,  at  11  o'clock  A.M.,  and  was  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the  Rev. 
David  Elliott,  D.D.,  moderator  of  the  last  Assembly,  from  Isa.  60  :  1  : 
'  Arise,  shine,  for  thy  light  is  come,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  risen 
upon  thee.' 

"After  public  worship,  the  moderator  of  the  last  Assembly  announced 
from  the  desk,  that  immediately  after  the  benediction  the  moderator 
would  take  the  chair  on  the  floor  of  the  church,  and  the  Assembly 
would  then  be  constituted. 

"After  the  benediction,  the  moderator  of  the  last  Assembly  took  the 
chair,  and  opened  the  meeting  with  prayer. 

"The  Rev.  William  Patton,  D.D.,  from  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New 
York,  then  rose;  and  asked  leave  to  offer  the  following  preamble  and 
resolutions  : 

"  Whereas,  the  General  Assembly  of  1837  adopted  certain  resolutions 
intended  to  deprive  certain  Presbyteries  of  the  right  to  be  represented 
in  the  General  Assembly.  And  whereas,  the  more  fully  to  accomplish 
their  purpose,  the  said  Assembly  of  1837  did  require  and  receive  from 
their  clerks  a  pledge  or  promise  that  they  would,  in  making  out  the  roll 
of  commissioners  to  constitute  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  omit  to 
insert  therein  the  names  of  commissioners  from  said  Presbyteries.  And 
whereas,  the  said  clerks,  having  been  requested  by  commissioners  from 
the  said  Presbyteries  to  receive  their  commissions  and  enter  their 
names  on  the  roll  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  now  about  to  be 
organized,  have  refused  to  receive  and  enter  the  same ;  therefore — 

"1.  Resolved,  That  such  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  General  As 
sembly  of  1837  and  their  clerks,  to  direct  and  control  the  organization 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  1.838,  are  unconstitutional,  and  in  deroga 
tion  of  its  just  rights  as  the  general  representative  judicatory  of  the 
whole  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


ASSEMBLY   OF    1838.  507 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  cannot  be  legally  consti 
tuted  except  by  admitting  to  seats  and  to  equality  of  powers,  in  the  first 
instance,  all  commissioners  who  present  the  usual  evidences  of  their  ap 
pointment.  And  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  clerks,  and  they  are  hereby 
directed,  to  form  the  roll  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  by  includ 
ing  therein  the  names  of  all  commissioners  from  Presbyteries  belonging 
to  the  said  Presbyterian  Church,  not  omitting  the  commissioners  from 
the  several  Presbyteries  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Ge 
neva,  Genesee,  and  the  Western  Reserve ;  and  in  all  things  to  form  the 
said  roll  according  to  the  known  practice  and  established  usage  of  pre 
vious  General  Assemblies." 

"  The  moderator  declared  him  to  be  out  of  order,  and  refused  to  allow 
them  to  be  read.  Dr.  Patton  then  stated  that  he  was  very  desirous  to 
have  them  put  and  passed  upon  without  remark  or  debate.  The  mode 
rator  again  declared  them  out  of  order,  as  the  next  business  was  the  re 
port  of  the  clerks  upon  the  roll.  Dr.  Patton  then  appealed  from  the  de 
cision  of  the  chair.  The  appeal  was  seconded,  and  the  moderator 
declared  the  appeal  to  be  out  of  order,  and  refused  to  put  it,  and  directed 
the  clerk  to  make  his  report  upon  the  roll.  Dr.  Patton  then  declared 
to  the  moderator  that  the  paper  he  wished  read  had  relation  to  forming 
the  roll.  The  moderator  then  stated  that  he  was  out  of  order,  as  the 
clerk  was  on  the  floor ;  whereupon  the  moderator  was  reminded  by  Dr. 
Patton  that  he  had  the  floor  before  the  clerk.  The  moderator  directed 
the  clerk  to  proceed  with  the  report  on  the  roll,  and  Dr.  Patton  there 
upon  took  his  seat. 

"  The  Report  of  the  clerks  of  the  last  Assembly  upon  the  roll  was  then 
read  by  the  Rev.  John  M.  Krebs,  one  of  the  clerks  of  the  last  Assembly, 
and  was  as  follows  : 


I.    SYNOD    OP   ALBANY. 

PRESBYTERIES.  MINISTERS.  ELDERS. 

Londonderry,     .     .     John  H.  Church,  D.D. 
Newburyport,     .     .     D.  T.  Smith. 

Cham-plain,   .     .     .     Phineas  Bailey, John  Boy n ton. 

Troy,   .     .     .     .     .     N.  S.  S.  Beman,  D.D. 

Samuel  Speer, Nicholas  M   Masters. 

Albany,    ....     Eliphalet  Nott,  D.D.     .     .      .     Isaac  N.  Beach. 

E.  D.  McMasters. 
Columbia,      .     .     .     J.  B.  Waterbnry, Lawrence  Vandyke. 

Augustus  L.  Chapin,     .     .     .     Frederick  Tyler. 
St.  Lawrence, 


508 


XII. — THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   CHURCH. 


II.    SYNOD   OF   NEW   YORK. 
PRESBYTERIES.  MINISTERS.  ELDERS. 

Hudson,   ....     William  Blain, William  L.  Mapes. 

Samuel  Pelton, Norman  Judson. 

North  River,      .     .     Eliphalet  Price, Aaron  Raymond. 

Bedford, John  Owen. 

New  York,  1st,  .     .     William  W.  Phillips,  D.D.      .  Hugh  Auchincloss. 

Elias  W.  Crane, A.  G.  Blauvelt. 

New  York,  2d,   .     .     Ebenezer  K.  Maxwell,       .     .  Henry  Rankin. 

New  York,  3d,  .     .     William  Patton,  D.D.    .     .     .  Daniel  Pierson. 

Erskine  Mason,  D.D.    .     .     .  R.  M.  Hartley. 
Long  Island,      .     .     Ralph  Smith. 

Long  Island,  2d,    .     James  McDougall,   ....  John  Everett. 


III.    SYNOD   OF   NEW   JERSEY. 


Newark, 


Samuel  Fisher,  D.D.     ...  0.  Woodruff. 

William  R.  Weeks,  D.D.    .     .  Israel  Crane. 

James  M.  Hunting,  ....  James  Bower. 

Lewis  Bond, Robert  Anderson. 

Eli  F.  Cooley, D.  W.  Vail. 

John  McLean, William  Wilson. 

John  Gray, Peter  Thomson. 

J.  Campbell,  D.D William  Long. 

E.  H.  Snowden, H.  C.  Anhauser. 

Montrose, Isaac  P.  Foster. 


Elizabethtoivn,  . 
New  Brunswick, 
Newton,    . 
Susguehanna, 


IV.    SYNOD   OF   PHILADELPHIA. 


Alexander  Symington. 
A.  W.  Mitchell. 
Robert  Wallace. 


Philadelphia,      .     .     Ashbel  Green,  D.D. .     .     . 

William  Latta,     .... 

Philadelphia,  2d,     .     William  J.  Gibson.  .     .     . 
Newcastle,      .     .     .     William  Finney. 

Lindley  C.  Rutter,    ....  John  Robinson. 

Wilmington,       .     .     E.  W.  Gilbert, Willard  Hall. 

Lewes, S.  K.  Wilson. 

Baltimore,     .     .     .     Robert  J.  Breckinridge,      .     .  George  Morris. 

Carlisle,  ....     John  Moody, John  Clendenin. 

N.  G.  White, Alexander  McCoy. 

Huntingdon, .     .     .     Joshua  Moore, William  Smyth. 

Northumberland,    .     S.  S.  Sheddan, Richard  Matchin. 


Blairsville, 
Redstone, .     . 
Washington, . 
Ohio,    .     . 

Alleghany,    . 
Steubenville, 
Beaver, 
Erie,    .     . 


V.    SYNOD   OF   PITTSBURG. 

Samuel  Swan, Smith  Agnew. 

C.  B.  Bristol, Dr.  H.  Campbell. 

John  Stockton, James  Lee. 

David  Elliot,  D.D Hon.  H.  Denny. 

Thomas  D.  Baird,    .     .     .     .  W.  H.  Lowrie. 

S.  Caldwell, Benjamin  Junkin. 

C.  C.  Beattie, H.  H.  Leavitt. 

A.  0.  Patterson, John  Clarke. 

Pierce  Chamberlain,     .     .     .  George  Kellogg. 


ASSEMBLY   OP   1838. 


509 


VI.    SYNOD   OF   MICHIGAN. 


PRESBYTERIES. 

Detroit,     .     .     . 
Monroe,    .     .     . 
St.  Joseph,     .     . 

Athens,     .     .     . 

MINISTERS. 

.     John  P.  Cleaveland. 
.     Erastns  N.  Nichols,  .... 
.     Silas  Woodbury,  

VII.    SYNOD   OF   OHIO. 

Luther  G.  Bingham, 
James  Hoge  D  D     .     .     .     . 

ELDERS. 

Samuel  G.  Conklin. 
A.  G.  Hammond. 

Marcus  Bos  worth. 
John  Entrekin 

Lancaster, 
Wooster,  . 
Richland,      .     . 
Marion,     .     .     . 

Chilicothe,     ,     . 
Miami, 

.     James  Culbertson,  D.D.     .     . 
.     Joseph  S.  Wylie,  
.     Henry  Hervey. 
.     Henry  Van  Deman,       .     .     . 

VIII.    SYNOD   OF   CINCINNATI 

.     Samuel  Crothers,      .... 
.     John  L.  Bellville. 

John  C.  Stockton. 
John  Elliot. 

S.  G.  Strong. 
Richard  Long. 

Cincinnati,    .     . 

Lyman  Beecher,  D.D.   . 

Dr.  George  L.  Weed. 
John  Q.  A.  Bassett. 

Oxford 

Robert  Irwin        ...           . 

John  Molyneaux 

Samuel  Cleland  

John  Ewing 

Vincennes,     .     . 
Madison,  . 
Crawfordsville,  . 
Indianapolis, 
Logansport,  .     . 

Illinois      .     . 

IX.    SYNOD    OF   INDIANA. 

.     Matthew  G.  Wallace,    .     .     . 
.     William  G.  Matthews,  .     .     . 
.     Samuel  G.  Lowry,    .... 
.     William  Sickels,  
.     Alexander  T.  Rankin. 

X.    SYNOD   OF   ILLINOIS. 
Edward  Beecher,     .... 

John  Lagow. 
Victor  King. 
John  S.  Jennings. 
William  M.  Tate. 

A.  H.  Burritt. 

Kaskaskia,    . 
Sangamon,    . 
Ottawa,    .     .     . 
Schuylcr,  .     .     . 

.     Benjamin  F.  Spillman,  .     .     . 
Cyrus  L.  Watson,     .... 
.     John  Blatchford. 
.     Samuel  Wilson. 
Flavel  Ba^com     ...           . 

W.  A.  G.  Posey. 
Joseph  Young. 

Alton 

.     AlbertHa   1. 

XI.    SYNOD   OF   MISSOURI. 

James  M    Covington 

St  Charles 

Alexander  J.  Dallas. 

Louisville, 
Muhlenburg,  . 
Transylvania. 
West  Lexington, 
Ebenezer.  .     .     . 

XII.    SYNOD   OF   KENTUCKY. 

James  Hawthorn,     .... 
John  Lyle. 

.     Robert  Davidson,     .... 
.     R.  C.  Grundy,      

John  Bemiss,  M.D. 

Samuel  M.  Wallace. 
Thomas  H.  Poage. 

510 


XII. — THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   CHURCH. 


PRESBYTERIES. 

Lexington,     .     .     . 

Winchester,  .  .  . 
Dist.  of  Columbia, 
West  Hanover,  .  . 

East  Hanover,  .     . 


XIII.    SYNOD   OF   VIRGINIA. 

MINISTERS. 

John  D.  Ewing, 

James  C.  Wilson,     .... 
S.  B.  Wilson,  D.D.,  .... 

William  Hill,  D.D 

George  A.  Baxter,  D.D.      .     . 

Andrew  Hart, 

William  S.  Plumer,  .... 


ELDERS. 

James  McNutt. 
William  A.  Bell. 
James  H.  Fitzgerald. 
Robert  Jamieson. 
Samuel  McCorkle. 
P.  C.  Venable,  M.D. 
William  Maxwell. 


XIV.    SYNOD   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Roanoke,  ....     William  McPheeters,  D.D.     .  Thomas  H.  Willie. 

Orange,    .     .     .     .     N.  H.  Harding, Richard  J.  Smith. 

Fayetteville,  .     .     .     William  N.  Peacock,     .     .     .  Alexander  Martin. 

Concord,  ....     Samuel  Williamson,      .     .     .  W.  L.  Davidson. 

John  Williamson,     ....  William  King. 
Morgantown,     .     .     Albertus  L.  Watts. 


Abingdon,     .  . 

Union,      .    .  . 

French  JSroad,  . 

Holston,  .     .  . 


XV.    SYNOD   OF   TENNESSEE. 

Daniel  H.  Hoge. 

J.  E.  Montgomery,  .  .     , 

Levi  R.  Morrison,    .  .     , 

Gideon  S.  White,     .  .     , 

Daniel  Rogan,     .     .  . 


Walter  M.  McGill. 
Andrew  Early. 
William  Dick. 
John  Patton. 


XVI.    SYNOD   OF   WEST   TENNESSEE. 


West  Tennessee, 
Nashville,  .  . 
Shiloh,  .  .  . 
North  Alabama, 


Thomas  F.  Scott. 
Robert  A.  Lapsley,  . 
William  Eagleton. 
James  0.  Stedman, . 


James  C.  Robinson. 
Thomas  Childress. 


Western  District,    .     Samuel  Hodge, John  Ingram,  M.D. 


XVII.    SYNOD   OF   SOUTH   CAROLINA  AND   GEORGIA. 

South  Carolina,      .     Hugh  Dickson, Alex.  Chambers. 

JSethel,      .     .     .     .     J.  L.  R.  Davies, John  M.  Doley. 

Harmony,      .     .     .     J.  Witherspoon,  D.D.   .     .     .  Lawrence  Prince. 
Charleston  Union,  .     Elipha  White. 

Thomas  Magruder. 

Georgia Horace  S.  Pratt, Ebenezer  S.  Reese. 

Hopewell,      .     .     .     Samuel  S.  Davis,      ....  William  Shear. 

Flint  River,  .     .     .     John  S.  Wilson, David  C.  Campbell. 


XVIII.    SYNOD   OF  ALABAMA. 

South  Alabama,      .     Robert  Nail. 

Tuscaloosa,   .     .     .     Joseph  B.  Adams,    ....     James  Knox. 

Tombeckbee,  .     .     .     Samuel  Hind. Eli  Neely. 


ASSEMBLY   OF   1838.  511 

XIX.    SYNOD   OF   MISSISSIPPI. 

PRESBYTERIES.  MINISTERS.  ELDERS. 

Mississippi,  .  .  .  Samuel  B.  Jones,      ....  John  Chamberlain. 

Clinton,    .  .  .  .  A.  C.  Dickerson,       ....  Wm.  M.  Murdoch. 

Arkansas. 

Louisiana,  .  .  .  John  L.  Montgomery,  .     .     .  James  Cooper. 

"  The  reading  of  the  report  being  finished,  the  moderator  announced 
that  if  there  were  commissioners  from  any  Presbyteries  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church  who  had  not  been  enrolled,  then  was  the  proper  time  to 
make  application  to  have  their  names  put  upon  the  roll. 

"  Thereupon  the  Rev.  Erskine  Mason,  D.D.,  from  the  Third  Presby 
tery  of  New  York,  rose,  and  offered  the  following  «resoluti.on  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  roll  be  now  completed  by  adding  the  names  of 
all  commissioners  now  present  from  the  several  Presbyteries  within  the 
bounds  of  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva,  Genesee,  and  the  Western 
Reserve, 

"And  stated  that  the  commissioners  from  the  Presbyteries  therein 
named  had  offered  their  commissions  to  the  clerks,  who  had  refused  to 
receive  them.  The  moderator  asked  Dr.  Mason  if  they  were  from 
Presbyteries  connected  with  the  Assembly  of  1837,  at  the  close  of  its 
session.  Dr.  Mason  replied  that  they  were  from  Presbyteries  within 
the  bounds  of  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva,  Genesee,  and  the  Western 
Reserve.  The  moderator  then  stated  that  they  could  not  be  received. 
Dr.  Mason  then  formally  tendered  the  commissions  of  commissioners 
from 

THE  PRESBYTERIES  OF  MINISTERS.  ELDERS. 

Lorain,     ....     Daniel  W.  Lathrop,       .     .     .  Henry  Brown. 

Geneva,     ....     Wm.  L.  Strong, Zenas  Wheeler. 

Miles  P.  Squier, Wm.  B.  Cook. 

Genesse,   ....     Erastua  J.  Gillett,     ....  Augustus  P.  Hascall. 

Wm.  Bridgman. 
Oneida,     ....     Horace  P.  Bogue. 

Joseph  Myers. 

Angelica,  ....     Asa  J.  Allen, Thomson  Bell. 

Maumee,  .     .     .     .     J.  H.  Francis Levi  Beebe. 

Watertown,  .     .     .     Isaac  Brayton, Jason  Clark. 

Portage,    ....     George  E.  Pierce. 

Sherman  B.  Canfield. 

Cayuga, Salem  Town. 

Joseph  Esty. 

Ontario,    ....     Silas  C.  Brown, Hiram  Ashley. 

Rochester,      .     .     .     Tryon  Edwards,      ....  George  A.  A  very. 

A.  G.  Hall. 

Delaware,      .     .     .     Daniel  Waterbury,    .     .     .     .  D.  Penfield. 


512  XII. — THE  DIVISION   OF   THE   CHURCH. 


Otsego,      ....     Joseph  W.  Paddock,     .     .     .     David  H.  Little. 
Trumbull,      .  Selden  Haynes, M.  Messer. 


Onondaga, 
Chemung, 
Huron,     .     . 
Buffalo,    .     . 

Grand  River, 
Niagara,  .  . 
Cortland, 


Hutchins  Taylor. 

John  Frost. 

E.  P.  Salmon. 

Asa  T.  Hopkins,      ....     Jabez  Goodell. 

George  R.  Rudd,      ....     Horace  Allen. 

Ferris  Fitch. 

Herman  Halsey. 

Joseph  R.  Johnson. 


Chenango,      .  John  B.  Hoyt, Frederick  Hotchkiss. 

Cleveland,      .  Samuel  C.  Aikin,     ....  Stephen  Whitaker. 

Bath, E.  Everett, Daniel  S.  Benton. 

Tioga, J.  A.  Nash, Elias  Hawley. 

"  And  demanded  that  they  be  put  upon  the  roll.  The  resolution  was 
seconded.  The  moderator  declared  it  out  of  order.  Dr.  Mason  then 
said,  that  with  the  greatest  respect  for  the  chair,  he  must  appeal  from 
that  decision.  The  appeal  was  seconded.  The  moderator  declared  the 
appeal  out  of  order,  and  refused  to  put  it. 

"  The  Rev.  Miles  P.  Squier,  from  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva,  then  rose 
and  addressed  the  chair,  stating  that  he  had  a  commission  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Geneva,  which  he  had  presented  to  the  clerks,  who  re 
fused  to  receive  it,  and  he  demanded  his  right  to  his  seat,  and  required 
his  name  to  be  enrolled.  The  moderator  asked  him  if  the  Presbytery 
of  Geneva  was  within  the  Synod  of  Geneva.  Mr.  Squier  replied  that 
it  was  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synod  of  Geneva.  The  moderator  then 
said,  '  We  do  not  know  you,'  and  refused  the  demand,  declaring  it  out 
of  order. 

"  These  repeated  refusals  of  the  moderator  and  clerks  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  1837  to  perform  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices  in  the 
organization  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  till  its  own  officers  should 
be  appointed,  thus  impeding  the  constitutional  progress  of  business,  the 
Rev.  John  P.  Cleaveland,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Detroit,  rose,  and  stated 
in  substance  as  follows  :  That  as  the  commissioners  to  the  General  As 
sembly  for  1838,  from  a  large  number  of  Presbyteries,  had  been  refused 
their  seats,  and  as  we  had  been  advised  by  counsel  learned  in  the  law, 
that  a  constitutional  organization  of  the  Assembly  must  be  secured  at 
this  time  and  in  this  place,  he  trusted  it  would  not  be  considered  as  an 
act  of  discourtesy,  but  merely  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  if  we  now  pro 
ceed  to  organize  the  General  Assembly  for  1838,  in  the  fewest  words, 
the  shortest  time,  and  with  the  least  interruption  practicable.  He 
therefore  moved  that  Dr.  Beman,  from  the  Presbytery  of  Troy,  be 
moderator,  to  preside  till  a  new  moderator  be  chosen.  The  motion  was 


ASSEMBLY   OF   1838.  513 

seconded  by  the  Rev.  Baxter  Dickinson,  from  the  Presbytery  of  Cin 
cinnati,  and  no  other  person  being  nominated,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beman 
was  unanimously  appointed  such  moderator. 

11  It  was  then  moved  and  seconded  that  the  Rev.  Erskine  Mason, 
D.D.,  from  the  3d  Presbytery  of  New  York,  and  the  Rev.  E.  W.  Gil 
bert,  from  the  Presbytery  of  Wilmington,  be  clerks  pro  tcmpore,  and 
no  other  person  being  put  in  nomination,  they  were  unanimously  ap 
pointed. 

"  The  following  is  the  roll  of  the  General  Assembly  as  completed  by 
the  clerks. 

I.    SYNOD   OF   ALBANY. 
PRESBYTERIES.  MINISTERS.  ELDERS. 

Londonderry,     .     .     John  H.  Church,  D.D. 

E.  P.  Bradford. 

Newburyport.     .     .     D.  T.  Smith. 
Champlain,    .     .     .     Phineas  Bailey. 
Troy, N.  S.  S.  Beman,  D.D. 

Samuel  Speer, Nicholas  M.  Masters. 

Albany,    ....     Eliphalet  Nott,  D.D.     .     .     .     Isaac  N.  Beach. 

E.  D.  McMasters. 
Columbia,      .     .     .     J.  B.  Waterbury,      ....     Lawrence  Vandyke; 

Augustus  L.  Chapin,     .     .     .     Frederick  Tyler. 


II.  SYNOD    OF   UTICA. 

St.  Lawrence. 

Watertoivn,  .     .     .     Isaac  Brayton, Jason  Clark. 

Oswego, 

Oneida,    ....     Horace  P.  Bogue. 

Joseph  Myers. 
Otseffo,     ....     Joseph  W.  Paddock,     .     .     .     D.  H.  Little. 


III.    SYNOD   OF   GENEVA. 

Geneva,    ....     Miles  P.  Squier, Wm.  D.  Cook. 

Wm.  L.  Strong, Zenas  Wheeler. 

Chcnanao,      .     .     .     John  B.  Hoyt, Frederick  Hotchkiss. 

Onondaga,     .     .     .     Hutchins  Taylor. 

Cayuaa, Joseph  Esty. 

Salem  Town. 

Tioaa, J.  A.  Nash, Elias  Hawley. 

Cortland,  .     .     .     .     J.  R.  Johnson. 

Bath, E.  Everett, Daniel  S.  Benton.. 

Delaware,      .     .     .     D.  Waterbury, D.  Penfield. 

Chemuna,      .     .     .     John  Frost. 

33 


514 


XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 


PRESBYTERIES. 

Gcnesee,    . 

Ontario,    .  .  . 

Rochester,  .  . 

Niagara,  .  .  . 

Buffalo,    .  .  . 

Angelica,  . 


IV.    SYNOD    OF    GENESEE. 


MINISTERS. 

Wrn.  Bridgeman, 
E.  J.  Gillett. 
Silas  C.  Brown, . 
Try  on  Edwards, 
A.  G.  Hall. 
Herman  Halsey. 
A.  T.  Hopkins,  . 
George  R.  Rudd, 
Asa  S.  Allen, 


ELDERS. 

Augustus  P.  Hascall. 

Hiram  Ashley. 
George  A.  Avery. 


Jabez  Goodell. 
Horace  Allen. 
Thorn  son  Bell. 


Hudson,    .     .     . 

North  River, 
Bedford,  .     .     . 
New  York,  1st,  . 

New  York,  2d,  . 
New  York,  3d,  . 

Long  Island, 
Long  Island,  2(7, 


V.    SYNOD   OF   NEW   YORK. 


William  Blain, 
Samuel  Pelton, 
Elipbalet  Price, 


Wm.  W.  Phillips,  D.D. 
Elias  W.  Crane, .     . 
Ebenezer  K.  Maxwell, 
William  Patton,  D.D.    . 
Erskine  Mason,  D.D.     . 
Ralph  Smith. 
James  McDougall,    .     . 


William  L.  Mapes. 
Norman  Judson. 
Aaron  Raymond. 
John  Owen. 
Hugh  Auchincloss. 
A.  G.  Blauvelt. 
Henry  Rankin. 
Daniel  Pierson. 
R.  M.  Hartley. 

John  Everett. 


VI.    SYNOD    OF   NEW   JERSEY. 

Newark,   ....     Samuel  Fisher,  D.D.     .     .     .  0.  Woodruff. 

Wm.  R.  Weeks,  D.D.    .     .     .  Israel  Crane. 

Elizabethtown,    .     .     James  M.  Hunting,  ....  James  Bower. 

Lewis  Bond, Robert  Anderson. 

New  Brunswick,     .     Eli  F.  Cooley, D.  W.  Vail. 

John  McLean, Wm.  Wilson. 

Newton,    ....     John  Gray, Peter  Thomson. 

J.  Campbell,  D.D Wm.  Long. 

Susguehanna,     .     .     E.  H.  Snowden,       .     .     .     .  H.  C.  Anhauser. 

Montrose, Isaac  P.  Foster. 

VII.    SYNOD  OF   PHILADELPHIA. 

Philadelphia,      .     .     Ashbel  Green,  D.D.       .     .     .  Alex.  Symington. 

William  Latta, A.  W.  Mitchell,  M.D. 

Philadelphia,  Id,    .     William  J.  Gibson,  ....  Robert  Wallace. 
New  Castle,  .     .     .     William  Finney. 

Lindley  C.  Rutter,    ....  John  Robinson. 

Wilmington, .     .     .     E.  W.  Gilbert, Willard  Hall. 

Lewes, S.  K.  Wilson. 

Baltimore,     .     .     .     Robert  S.  Breckinridge,      .     .  George  Morris. 

Carlisle,    ....     John  Moody, John  Clendenin. 

N.  G.  White, Alex.  McCoy. 

Huntingdon, .     .     .     Joshua  Moore, Wm.  Smyth. 

Northumberland,    .     S.  S.  Sheddan, Richard  Matchin. 


ASSEMBLY    OF   1838. 


515 


VIII.    SYNOD  OF   PITTSBURG. 


PRESBYTERIES.  MINISTERS.                                            ELDERS. 

JBlairsviUe,    .     ,     .     Samuel  Swan, Smith  Agnew. 

Redstone,      .     .     .     C.  B.  Bristol, Dr.  H.  Campbell, 

Washington,       .     .     John  Stockton, James  Lee. 

Ohio, David  Elliot,  D.D Hon.  H.  Denny. 

Thomas  D.  Baird,    ....  W.  H.  Lowrie. 

Alleghany,    .     .     .     S.  Caldwell, Benj.  Junkin. 

Sleubenville,  ,     .     .     C.  C.  Beattie, H.  H.  Leavitt. 

Beaver,     ....  A.  O.  Patterson,        ....  John  Clarke. 

Erie, Pierce  Chamberlain,      .     .     .  George  Kellogg. 


IX.    WESTERN   RESERVE. 

Grand  River,     .     .  Ferris  Fitch. 

Portage,  ....  George  E.  Pierce. 

Sherman  B.  Canfield, 

Huron,     ....  E.  P.  Salmon. 

Maumee,  J.  II.  Francis,     .... 

Trumbull,      .     .     .  S.  Haynes, 

Lorain,     ....  Daniel  W.  Lathrop,      .     . 

Cleveland,     .     .     .  S.  C.  Aikin, 


Levi  Beebe. 
Moses  Messer. 
Henry  Brown. 
Stephen  Whitaker, 


X.    SYNOD   OF   MICHIGAN. 

Detroit,     ....     John  P.  Cleveland. 

Monroe,    ....     Erastus  N.  Nichols, .     .     .     , 

St.  Joseph's,       .     .     Silas  Woodbury,  .... 


Henry  Disbrow. 
A.  G.  Hammond. 


XI.    SYNOD   OF   OHIO. 

Athens,     ....  Luther  G.  Bingham, 

Columbus,      .     .    .  James  Hoge,  D.D.    .     .     . 

Lancaster,     .     .     .  James  Culbertson,  D.D. 

Wooster,  ....  Joseph  S.  Wiley,      .     .     . 

Richland,       .     .     .  Henry  Hervey. 

Marion,     ....  Henry  Vandeman,   .      .     . 


Marcus  Bosworth. 
John  Entrekin. 
John  C.  Stockton. 
John  Elliott. 

S.  G.  Strong. 


XII.    SYNOD   OF   CINCINNATI. 

Cincinnati,     .     .     .     Lyman  Beecher,  D.D.    .     .     . 
Baxter  Dickinson,     .... 

Chilicothe,     .     .     .     Samuel  Crothers,      .... 
Miami,      ....     John  L.  Bellville. 

Oxford,     ....     Robert  Irwin, John  Molyneaux. 

Sidney,      ....     Samuel  Cleland, John  Ewing. 


Dr.  George  L.  Weed. 
John  Q.  A.  Bassett. 
Richard  Long. 


XIII.    SYNOD  OF  INDIANA. 

Salem,       ....     William  W.  Martin,       .     .     .  Henry  L.  Fabrigue. 

Vincenncs,     .     .     .     Matthew  G.  Wallace,  .     .     .  John  Lagow. 

Madison,  ....     William  C.  Matthews,  .     .     .  Victor  King. 


516 


XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 


PRESBYTERIES. 

Crawfordsville,  . 
Indianapolis, 
Logansport,  .     . 


MINISTERS. 

Samuel  G.  Lowry, 
William  Sickels, 
Alex.  T.  Rankin. 


John  S.  Jennings. 
Dr.  Wm.  M.  Tate, 


Illinois,     . 
Kaskaskia, 
Sangamon, 
Ottaiva,    . 
Schuyler,  , 
Palestine. 
Peoria, 
Alton, .     . 


XIV.    SYNOD    OF   ILLINOIS. 

Edward  Beecher,     ....     A.  H.  Burritt. 
Benjamin  F.  Spillman,  .     .     .     W.  A.  G.  Posey. 
Cyrus  L.  Watson,     ....     Joseph  Young. 
John  Blatchford. 
Samuel  Wilson. 


Flavel  Bascom, 
Albert  Hall. 


Charles  Barrows, 


Missouri. 
St.  Louis, 
St.  Charles, 


XV.     SYNOD    OF    MISSOURI. 


James  M.  Covington. 
Alex.  J.  Dallas. 


Louisville,     .     . 
Muhlcnbura,  .     . 
Transylvania. 
West  Lexington, 
Ebenezer,  . 


XVI.    SYNOD    OF   KENTUCKY. 

James  Hawthorn, 
John  Lysle. 


John  Bemis,  M.D. 


Robert  Davidson,     ....     Samuel  M.  Wallace. 
R.  C.  Grundy, Thomas  H.  Poage. 


XVII.    SYNOD   OF   VIRGINIA. 

Lexington,     .     .     .     John  D.  Ewing, James  McNutt. 

James  C.  Wilson,      ....  Wm.  A.  Bell. 

Winchester,    .     .     .     S.  B.  Wilson,  D.D James  H.  Fitzgerald. 

Dist.  of  Columbia,  .     William  Hill,  D.D Robert  Jamieson. 

West  Hanover,  .     .     George  A.  Baxter,  D.D.      .     .  Samuel  McCorkle. 

Andrew  Hart, P.  C.  Venable,  M.D. 

East  Hanover,  .     .     Wm.  S.  Plumer, Wm.  Maxwell. 


XVIII.    SYNOD   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 


Roanolce,  .     . 
Orange,    . 
Fayetteville,  . 
Concord,  . 

Morgantoiun, 


Wm.  McPheeters,  D.D. 
N.  H.  Harding,    .     .     . 
Wm.  N.  Peacock,      .     . 
Samuel  Williamson, 
John  Williamson, 
Albertus  L.  Watts. 


Thomas  H.  Willie. 
Richard  J.  Smith. 
Alex.  Martin. 
W.  L.  Davidson. 
Wm.  King. 


ASSEMBLY    OF    1838. 


517 


XIX.    SYNOD    OF   TENNESSEE. 
PRESBYTERIES.  MINISTERS.  ELDERS. 

Abinadon,     .     .     .     Daniel  H.  Hoge. 

Union,      .     .     .     .     J.  E.  Montgomery,  ....  Walter  M.  McGill. 

Levi  R.  Morrison,     ....  Andrew  Early. 

French  Broad,    .     .     Gideon  S.  White,      ....  William  Dick. 

Hohton,   ....     Daniel  Rogan, John  Patton. 


XX.     SYNOD   OF   WEST    TENNESSEE. 

West  Tennessee,      .  Thomas  F.  Scott. 

Nashville,      .     .     .  Robert  A.  Lapsley,  ....     James  C.  Robinson. 

Shiloh,       ....  Wm.  Eagleton. 

North  Alabama,     .  James  0.  Stedman,  ....     Thomas  Childress. 

Western  District,    .  Samuel  Hodge, John  Ingram,  M.D. 


XXI.    SYNOD   OF   SOUTH  CAROLINA   AND   GEORGIA. 

South  Carolina,      .     Hugh  Dickson, Alex.  Chambers. 

Bethel,      .     .     .     .     J.  Le  Roy  Davies,    ....  John  M.  Doby. 

Harmony,  J.  Witherspoon,  D.D.     .     .     .  Lawrence  Prince. 

Charleston  Union,  .     Elipha  White, S.  Glover. 

Thomas  Magruder,  ....  Robert  L.  Stewart. 

Georgia,  ....     Horace  S.  Pratt, Ebenezer  S.  Reese. 

Hopeivdl,       .     .     .     Samuel  S.  Davis,       ....  William  Shear. 

Flint  River,   .     .     .     John  S.  Wilson, David  C.  Campbell. 


XXII.    SYNOD   OF   ALABAMA. 

South  Alabama,      .     Robert  Nail. 

Tuscaloosa,    .     .     .     Joseph  B.  Adams,    ....     James  Knox. 

Tombcckbcc,  .     ,     .     Samuel  Kurd, Eli  Neely. 


Mississippi, 
Clinton,    . 
Arkansas. 
Louisiana, 


XXIII.     SYNOD   OF   MISSISSIPPI. 


Samuel  B.  Jones, 
A.  C.  Dickerson, 


John  Chamberlain. 
Wm.  M.  Murdock. 


John  L.  Montgomery,   .     .     .     James  Cooper. 


CORRESPONDING   BODIES. 


Evangelical  Consociation  of  Rhode  Island, 
General  Association' of  Connecticut,     .      . 
General  Convention  of  Vermont, 
General  Association  of  New  Hampshire,  . 


Rev.  Orin  Fowler. 

Rev.  Nathaniel  W.  Taylor,  D.D. 

Rev.  Harvey  Curtis. 

Rev.  Henry  Wood. 


"  The  Rev.  Samuel  Fisher,  D.D.,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Newark,  was 
nominated  as  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  no  other  person 


518  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

being  put  in  nomination,  he  was  chosen  by  a  very  large  majority.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Beman  thereupon  announced  to  Dr.  Fisher  that  he  was  duly 
elected  the  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly;  and  on  leaving  the 
chair,  informed  him  that  he  was  to  be  governed  in  his  office  by  the  rules 
of  the  General  Assembly  hereafter  to  be  adopted. 

"The  Rev.  Erskine  Mason,  D.D.,  was  then  chosen  Stated  Clerk,  and 
the  Rev.  E.  W.  Gilbert  Permanent  Clerk  of  the  General  Assembly. 

"  The  following  notice  had  been  previously  delivered  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Beman  : 

"Resolution  of  the  trustees  of  the  Seventh  Presbyterian  Church, 
adopted  May  7th,  1838. 

"Resolvedj  That  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
which  is  to  convene  in  Philadelphia  on  the  17th  inst.,  and  which  shall 
be  organized  under  the  direction  of  the  moderator  and  clerks  officiating 
during  the  meeting  of  the  last  Assembly,  shall  have  the  use  of  the 
Seventh  Presbyterian  Church  during  their  sessions,  to  the  exclusion  of 
every  other  assembly  or  convention  which  may  be  organized  during  the 
same  period  of  time. 

(Signed)  "JAMES  SCHOTT, 

"  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

"It  was  moved  and  seconded  that  the  General  Assembly  now  adjourn 
to  meet  forthwith  in  the  lecture  room  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
in  this  city.  The  motion  to  adjourn  was  carried  unanimously. 

"  The  moderator  then  audibly  announced  that  the  General  Assembly 
was  so  adjourned,  and  gave  notice  that  any  commissioners  who  had  not 
presented  their  commissions  should  do  so  at  the  First  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  The  Assembly  being  again  met  at  the  lecture  room  of  the  First  Pres 
byterian  Church,  Dr.  Patton  again  offered  his  preamble  and  resolutions, 
as  follows,  which  were  unanimously  adopted  : 

"  Whereas  the  General  Assembly  of  1837  adopted  certain  resolutions 
intended  to  deprive  certain  Presbyteries  of  the  right  to  be  represented 
in  the  General  Assembly ;  and  whereas,  the  more  fully  to  accomplish 
their  purpose,  the  said  Assembly  of  1837  did  require  and  receive  from 
their  clerks  a  pledge  or  promise,  that  they  would,  in  making  out  the  roll 
of  commissioners  to  constitute  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  omit  to 
insert  therein  the  names  of  commissioners  from  said  Presbyteries;  and 
whereas  the  said  clerks,  having  been  requested  by  commissioners  from 
the  said  Presbyteries  to  receive  their  commissions  and  enter  their  names 


ASSEMBLY   OF   1838.  519 

on  the  roll  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  now  about  to  be  organized, 
have  refused  to  receive  and  enter  the  same.  Therefore, 

"  1.  Resolved,  That  such  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  General  Assem 
bly  of  1837  and  their  clerks,  to  direct  and  control  the  organization  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  are  unconstitutional,  and  in  derogation 
of  its  just  rights  as  the  general  representative  judicatory  of  the  whole 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

U1.  Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  cannot  be  legally  consti 
tuted  except  by  admitting  to  seats  and  to  equality  of  powers,  in  the  first 
instance,  all  commissioners,  who  present  the  usual  evidences  of  their 
appointment ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  clerks,  and  they  are  hereby 
directed,  to  form  the  roll  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  by  including 
therein  the  names  of  all  commissioners  from  Presbyteries  belonging  to 
the  said  Presbyterian  Church,  not  omitting  the  commissioners  from  the 
several  Presbyteries  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva, 
Genesee,  and  the  Western  Reserve ;  and  in  all  things  to  form  the  said 
roll  according  to  the  known  practice  and  established  usage  of  previous 
General  Assemblies. 

"  Commissions  were  called  for,  and  committed  to  the  hands  of  the 
stated  and  permanent  clerks. 

"  Adjourned  to  meet  in  this  place  at  4  o'clock,  P.M. 

"  Concluded  with  prayer."— Minutes,  1838,  pp.  635-646. 

4.  Demand  for  the  Records,  Books,  Papers,  &c.,  of  the  General 
Assembly. 

a.  "  The  following  resolution  was  offered  and  adopted  : 
"Resolved,  That  the  Rev.  Erskine  Mason,  D.D.,  clerk  of  this  Assem 
bly,  be  directed  to  demand  of  the  Rev.  John  McDowell,  D.D.,  and  Rev. 
John  M.  Krebs,  clerks  of  the  last  General  Assembly,  all  the  commis 
sions  of  the  commissioners  to  the  Assembly  of  1838,  which  have  been 
put  into  their  hands ;  also  the  Records  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  and  all  the  books 
and  papers  belonging  to  the  Assembly  that  may  be  in  their  possession." 
—Minutes,  1838,  p.  647. 

The  Demand  Refused. 

b.  u  The  stated  clerk  presented  the  following  report,  which  was  ac 
cepted,  and  ordered  to  be  entered  on  the  Minutes : 


520  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"  The  stated  clerk  reports  that  he  transmitted  to  the  Rev.  John  Mc 
Dowell,  D.D.,  stated  clerk,  and  the  Rev.  John  M.  Krebs,  the  permanent 
clerk  of  the  last  Assembly,  a  certified  copy  of  the  resolution  of  May  17th, 
demanding  of  the  said  clerks  the  commissions  of  commissioners  to  the 
Assembly  of  1838,  and  all  the  records,  papers,  and  documents  belonging 
to  the  General  Assembly,  and  which  may  now  be  in  the  possession  of  the 
said  clerks;  that  the  Rev.  John  McDowell,  D.D.,  formally  declined,  in 
the  presence  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  D.D.,  to  deliver  any  record  or 
document  whatsoever  belonging  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  now  in 
his  possession  •  and  that  the  Rev.  John  M.  Krebs,  in  answer  to  the  de 
mand  of  your  clerk,  returned  a  written  communication,  of  which  the 
following  is  an  extract : 

"In  reply  to  your  favor,  I  would  respectfully  inform  you  that  I  am 
the  permanent  clerk  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America;  that  the  Minutes  of  the  As 
sembly  for  May  17th  are  now  before  me ;  and  that  there  is  no  record  on 
the  Minutes  either  of  such  a  resolution  as  you  have  communicated,  or  of 
your  appointment  as  stated  clerk  in  the  place  of  Dr.  John  McDowell ; 
and  consequently  I  have  no  authority  to  comply  with  your  demand. 
(Signed)  "  JOHN  M.  KREBS." 

—Minutes,  1838,  p.  653. 

5.    Trustees  Elected. 

"At  10  o'clock  the  Assembly  proceeded  to  the  order  of  the  day,  viz., 
the  election  of  six  trustees  of  the  General  Assembly.  Messrs.  Bogue, 
Brown,  and  Chapin  were  appointed  to  receive  the  ballots  and  report  the 
result.  The  Assembly  ascertained  that  no  vacancies  in  the  Board  of 
Trustees  have  occurred  by  death  or  otherwise.  They  then  proceeded  to 
try  whether  they  could  elect  any  of  that  third  of  the  number  of  trustees 
which  they  are  permitted  by  law  to  change,  by  voting  for  a  person  to  fill 
the  place  of  the  Rev.  Ashbel  Green,  D.D.,  the  first  on  the  list.  On 
counting  the  votes,  it  was  ascertained  that  all  the  votes  given  were  for 
James  Todd,  who  was  accordingly  declared  by  the  moderator  to  be  a 
trustee  duly  chosen  in  the  place  of  Ashbel  Green.  In  the  same  manner 
the  Assembly  proceeded  to  vote,  and  unanimously  elected  John  R.  Neff 
in  the  place  of  George  C.  Potts,  Frederick  A.  Ilaybold  in  the  place  of 
William  Latta,  George  W.  McClelland  in  the  place  of  Thomas  Brad 
ford,  William  Darling  in  the  place  of  Solomon  Allen,  and  Thomas 


ASSEMBLY   OF   1838.  521 

Fleming  in  the  place  of  Cornelius  C.  Cuyler ;  thus  changing  as  many  of 
the  trustees  as  they  are  permitted  by  law  to  change.  Whereupon  James 
Todd,  John  R.  Neff,  Frederick  A.  Raybold,  George  W.  McClelland, 
William  Darling,  and  Thomas  Fleming,  were  declared  to  be  duly  elected 
trustees  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America.7'— Minutes,  1838,  pp.  654,  655. 

6.    Committee  of  Twelve  appointed,  with  Powers. 

a.  "  Overture  No.  13  was  reported  and  adopted,  and  is  as  follows : 
"  In  view  of  the  peculiar  attitude  of  the  Presbyterian  Church — 
"Resolved,  That  a,  committee  of  twelve  be  appointed,  with  power  to 

advise  and  direct  in  respect  to  any  legal  questions  and  pecuniary  inte 
rests  that  may  require  attention  during  the  ensuing  year. 

11  The  following  persons  were  appointed  that  committee,  viz.,  Hon. 
William  Darling,  Rev.  John  L.  Grant,  Rev.  Nathan  S.  S.  Beman,  D.D., 
Ambrose  White,  Esq.,  Thomas  Fleming,  Esq.,  George  W.  McClelland, 
Esq.,  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  Rev.  Thomas  Brainerd,  Rev.  Absalom  Peters, 
D.D.,  Rev.  Wiiliam  Patton,  D.D.,  Rev.  Erskine  Mason,  D.D.,  and  Rev. 
E.  W.  Gilbert. 

"  Ordered,  That  the  committee  meet  immediately  after  the  dissolu 
tion  of  this  Assembly,  and  afterwards  on  their  own  adjournment/7 — 
Minutes,  1838,  p.  657. 

b.  "  Overture  15  was  presented  and  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz. : 
" Resolved,  That  the  'Committee  of  Twelve/  appointed  on  the  24th 

instant,  be,  and  they  are  hereby  authorized  to  adopt  all  such  measures 
as  they  in  their  judgment  may  deem  proper  to  preserve  and  maintain  in 
violate  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  General  Assembly  and  of  the 
churches  under,  their  jurisdiction. " — Minutes,  1838,  p.  660. 

7.    The  Assembly  willing  to  agree  to  any  reasonable  Measures  for  the 
amicable  Adjustment  of  Difficulties. 

"  Overture  No.  8  was  presented,  and,  after  discussion,  unanimously 
adopted,  viz. : 

"  Resolved,  That  this  body  are  willing  to  agree  to  any  reasonable  mea 
sures,  tending  to  an  amicable  adjustment  of  the  difficulties  existing  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  will  receive  and  respectfully  consider  any 
proposition  which  may  be  made  for  that  purpose." — Minutes,  1838, 
p.  654. 


522  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OP   THE   CHURCH. 


8.  Pastoral  Letter  to  the  Churches  under  the  care  of  the  General 
Assembly. 

"  BELOVED  IN  THE  LORD  :  It  is  well  known  as  a  matter  of  history, 
that  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  our  nation  commenced  in  the  union  of 
pious  natives  and  foreigners  of  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  origin. 
These  differences,  in  her  early  and  feeble  state,  occasioned  no  interrup 
tion  of  her  peace  and  efficiency.  But  as  her  numbers  increased,  they 
produced  contentions,  which  resulted  in  the  violent  expulsion  of  one 
Synod  by  another,  and  a  separation  of  seventeen  years. 

"  The  terms  of  reunion  were,  a  subscription  to  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
'as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures/ 
notwithstanding  any  such  '  scruples  with  respect  to  any  article  or  articles 
of  said  Confession  as  the  Presbytery  or  Synod  shall  judge  not  essential 
or  necessary  in  doctrine,  worship,  or  discipline  /  and  '  the  Synod  do 
solemnly  agree  that  none  of  us  will  traduce  or  use  any  opprobrious  terms 
of  those  who  differ  from  us  in  those  extra  essential  and  not  necessary 
points  of  doctrine,  but  treat  them  with  the  same  friendship,  kindness, 
and  brotherly  love  as  if  they  had  not  differed  from  us  in  such  senti 
ments.' 

"  By  this  Plan  of  Union  the  peace  of  the  Church  was  restored  and 
her  prosperity  augmented,  though,  from  some  circumstances,  the  admin 
istration  of  her  policy  was  continued  without  envy  in  the  hands  of  the 
immigrant  Presbyterian  portion  of  the  Church. 

11  When  the  tide  of  population  began  to  roll  westward,  and  the  terri 
tories  of  our  Church  were  fast  filling  up  with  pious  emigrants  from  the 
East,  a  proposal  was  made  by  the  General  Assembly  of  our  Church  to 
the  Association  of  Connecticut,  to  permit  the  union  in  the  same  church 
of  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists,  in  the  new  settlements,  for  the 
greater  facility  of  supporting  and  extending  the  institutions  of  religion. 
This  union,  so  congenial  with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  exerted  for  a  long 
time  an  auspicious  influence  in  the  extension  of  Presbyterian  churches 
from  the  Hudson  to  the  Mississippi. 

"  But  at  length,  in  the  mysterious  providence  of  God,  jt  came  to  pass 
that  the  very  causes  of  our  prosperity  became  the  occasions  of  disaster* 
For,  in  the  rapid  multiplication  of  new  States  and  Presbyterian  churches, 
it  soon  became  apparent  that  native  American  Presbyterians  must  un 
avoidably  become  a  majority  of  the  Church ;  and  though  the  slight 
variations  of  doctrine  and  policy  created  no  alarm  while  the  helm  of 
power  was  supposed  to  be  safe,  the  prospect  of  its  passing  to  other  hands 
created  a  strong  sensation. 

"  About  this  time,  a  Plan  of  Union  was  formed  with  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church,  and  a  considerable  accession  was  made  to  our  Church 
from  that  body ;  and  soon  after,  the  system  of  ecclesiastical  organization 
commenced  for  the  administration  of  the  charities  of  the  Church,  with 
increasing  unfriendliness  to  voluntary  associations,  till  the  one  was  esta 
blished  and  the  others  were  disclaimed  and  opposed. 


ASSEMBLY   OF    1838.  523 

"  During  the  progress  of  these  movements,  the  slight  shades  of  doc 
trinal  difference  always  known  and  permitted  to  exist  in  the  Church, 
before  and  since  the  Adopting  Act,  and  recognized  in  every  form  as 
consistent  with  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  bonds  of  peace,  became  the  occasions  of  alarm,  and  whisperings,  and 
accusations,  and  at  length  of  ecclesiastical  trials  for  heresy,  while  doc 
trines  and  measures  unknown  to  the  Confession  were  selected  as  tests  of 
orthodoxy. 

uAs  the  result  of  these  efforts  to  change  the  terms  of  subscription 
and  union,  the  General  Assembly  of  1837,  '  convinced  that  a  separation 
of  the  parties  was  the  only  cure/  and  '  that  a  separation  by  personal 
process  was  impossible,  or,  if  possible,  tedious,  agitating,  and  trouble 
some  in  the  highest  degree/  proceeded  without  charges,  citation,  wit 
nesses,  or  a  judicial  trial,  to  separate  four  Synods  and  one  Presbytery 
from  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  these  circumstances,  apprised  by 
counsel  of  the  unconstitutionally  of  the  disfranchising  act,  and  advised 
of  a  constitutional  mode  of  organization,  we  did,  in  a  meeting  for  con 
sultation  and  prayer,  on  the  15th  day  of  May,  1838,  send  the  following 
proposal  to  a  large  number  of  commissioners  to  the  Assembly,  met  in 
another  place,  viz.  : 

"  Resolved,  That  while  we  regard  with  deep  sorrow  the  existing  diffi 
culties  in  our  beloved  Church,  we  would  fondly  hope  that  there  are  no 
insurmountable  obstacles  in  the  way  of  averting  the  calamities  of  a 
violent  dismemberment,  and  of  securing  such  an  organization  as  may- 
avoid  collisions,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  a  perpetuated  harmonious 
action. 

"Resolved,  That  we  are  ready  to  co-operate  in  any  efforts  for  pacifica 
tion  which  are  constitutional,  and  which  shall  recognize  the  regular 
standing,  and  secure  the  rights  of  the  entire  Church,  including  those 
portions  which  the  acts  of  the  last  General  Assembly  were  intended  to 
exclude. 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  now  appointed,  respectfully 
to  communicate  the  foregoing  resolutions  to  those  commissioners  now  in 
session  in  this  city,  who  are  at  present  inclined  to  sustain  the  acts  of  the 
last  General  Assembly,  and  inquire  whether  they  will  open  a  friendly 
conference  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  if  some  constitutional  terms 
of  pacification  may  not  be  agreed  upon. 

"  While  this  proposal  was  under  consideration,  it  was  resolved  by  the 
meeting, 

"  That,  should  a  portion  of  the  commissioners  to  the  next  General 
Assembly  attempt  to  organize  the  Assembly  without  admitting  to  their 
seats  commissioners  from  all  the  Presbyteries  recognized  in  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1837,  it  will  then  be  the  duty  of  the 
commissioners  present  to  organize  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  in  all 
respects  according  to  the  Constitution,  and  to  transact  all  other  necessary 
business  consequent  upon  such  organization. 

"  To  our  communication,  we  received  the  following  answer  ; 


524  XII. — THE  DIVISION    OP   THE    CHURCH. 

"The  committee  on  the  communication  from  (  the  meeting  of  com 
missioners/  now  in  session  in  the  lecture-room  of  the  First  Church, 
presented  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions,  which  were  adopted, 
viz.  : 

l{  Whereas,  the  resolutions  of  ( the  meeting/  whilst  they  profess  a 
readiness  t  to  co-operate  in  any  efforts  for  pacification  which  are  consti 
tutional/  manifestly  proceed  upon  the  erroneous  supposition  that  the 
acts  of  the  last  General  Assembly,  declaring  the  four  Synods  of  the 
Western  Reserve,  Utica,  Geneva,  Genesee,  out  of  the  ecclesiastical  con 
nection  of  our  Church,  were  unconstitutional  and  invalid,  and  the  con 
vention  cannot  for  a  moment  consent  to  consider  them  in  this  light ; 
therefore — 

"Resolved  unanimously.  That  the  convention  regard  the  said  overture 
of  '  the  meeting/  however  intended,  as  founded  upon  a  basis  which  is 
wholly  inadmissible,  and  as  calculated  only  to  disturb  that  peace  of  our 
Church  which  a  calm  and  firm  adherence  to  those  constitutional,  just, 
and  necessary  acts  of  the  last  General  Assembly  can  alone,  by  the 
blessing  of  Divine  Providence,  establish  and  secure. 

"Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  the  convention,  the  resolution 
of  the  last  General  Assembly  which  provides,  in  substance,  that  all 
churches  and  ministers  within  the  said  four  Synods  which  are  strictly 
Presbyterian  in  doctrine  and  order,  and  wish  to  unite  with  us,  may 
apply  for  admission  into  those  Presbyteries  belonging  to  our  connection 
which  are  most  convenient  to  their  respective  locations ;  and  that  any 
such  Presbyteries  as  aforesaid,  being  strictly  Presbyterian  in  doctrine 
and  order,  and  now  in  connection  with  either  of  the  said  Synods,  as  may 
desire  to  unite  with  us,  are  directed  to  make  application,  with  a  full 
statement  of  their  case,  to  the  next  '  General  Assembly,  which  will  take 
order  therein/  furnishes  a  fair  and  easy  mode  of  proceeding,  by  which 
all  such  ministers,  churches,  and  Presbyteries,  within  the  said  Synods,  as 
are  really  desirous  to  be  recognized  as  in  regular  standing  with  us,  and 
as  proper  parts  of  our  ( entire  Church/  may  obtain  their  object  without 
trouble  and  without  delay. 

"  I3y  this  answer,  all  prospect  of  conciliation  or  an  amicable  division 
being  foreclosed,  we  did,  after  mature  consideration  and  fervent  prayer, 
proceed,  at  a  proper  time  and  place,  to  organize,  in  a  constitutional 
manner,  the  General  Assembly  of  1838  j  which  being  accomplished  on 
our  part  without  violence  or  tumult,  the  Assembly  adjourned  to  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  During  the  session  of  the  Assembly  on  Wednesday,  May  24th,  the 
following  resolution  was  passed,  viz.  : 

"  Resolved ,  That  this  body  is  willing  to  agree  to  any  reasonable  mea 
sures  tending  to  an  amicable  adjustment  of  the  difficulties  existing  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  will  receive  and  respectfully  consider  any 
propositions  which  may  be  made  for  that  purpose. 

"  Beside  these  overtures  for  peace,  influential  members  of  the  Assem 
bly  held  personal  conference  with  members  of  the  other  body,  till  it  was 


ASSEMBLY   OF   1838.  525 

ascertained  that  there  was  no  hope  of  an  amicable  settlement  of  differ 
ences. 

"  In  the  retrospect  of  this  mournful  history,  we  are  compelled  to 
regard  the  excision  of  the  four  Synods  and  the  Third  Presbytery  of 
Philadelphia,  with  the  setting  up  a  new  test  of  doctrine  and  measures, 
as  an  exercise  of  power  by  the  Assembly  unknown  to  the  Constitution, 
and  dangerous  to  the  purity  and  liberty  of  the  Church,  perpetuating  to 
an  accidental  majority  unlimited  and  irresponsible  power,  and  affording 
to  minorities  only  such  protection  as  may  be  found  in  passive  obedience 
and  non-resistance. 

"  We  could  not  fail  to  perceive,  in  a  General  Assembly  concentrating 
in  itself  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive  power,  and  dispensing  the 
discipline,  the  honors,  and  the  copious  revenues  of  the  Church,  the 
elements  of  an  ecclesiastical  organization,  which,  with  less  pretension  in 
the  beginning,  had  once,  for  more  than  ten  centuries,  subverted  the 
liberties  and  rolled  back  the  civilization  of  the  world. 

"  To  have  acquiesced  in  such  concentration  of  irresponsible  ecclesias 
tical  power  and  patronage,  would  have  been  to  abandon  the  Constitution 
of  the  Church,  which  we  had  solemnly  engaged  to  defend ;  to  expose 
large  amounts  of  property  to  diversion  from  its  intended  use;  to  subject 
the  churches  to  a  wide-spread,  vexatious  litigation ;  to  abandon  to  aggres 
sion  and  division  a  large  and  efficient  body  of  concordant  churches  with 
their  pastors ;  to  surrender  the  rights  of  conscience,  and  free  inquiry, 
and  charitable  enterprise,  to  an  organization  never  recognized  by  Heaven 
as  their  keeper,  or  clothed  by  our  Constitution  with  their  power j  and, 
finally,  to  throw  apparently  the  example  of  an  extended  and  powerful 
Church — the  patron,  hitherto,  of  constitutional  liberty — on  the  side  of 
those  elements  of  strife  and  violence  which  already  so  powerfully  agitate 
the  nation. 

"  We  love  and  honor  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  as  containing  more  well-defined  fundamental  truth,  with  less 
defect,  than  appertains  to  any  other  human  formula  of  doctrine,  and  as 
calculated  to  hold,  in  intelligent  concord,  a  greater  number  of  sanctified 
minds  than  any  which  could  now  be  formed ;  and  we  disclaim  all  design, 
past,  present,  or  future,  to  change  it.  But  it  is  not  the  Bible,  nor  a 
substitute  for  the  Bible,  nor  a  stereotyped  page,  to  be  merely  committed 
to  memory  by  unreflecting,  confiding  minds,  without  energy  of  thought, 
and  a  prayerful,  faithful  searching  of  the  Scriptures.  It  is  itself  an 
illustrious  monument  of  the  independent  investigation  of  the  most  gifted 
minds,  and  breathes  and  inspires  the  spirit  which  formed  it. 

"  We  impute  to  our  brethren  no  intention  of  producing  the  results 
which  we  anticipate  from  their  measures,  but  good  intentions  do  not 
change  the  nature  or  avert  the  mischiefs  of  erroneous  principles  and 
injurious  actions.  It  is  a  matter  of  history,  that  some  of  the  greatest 
calamities  of  the  Church  have  flowed  from  principles  and  innovations 
introduced  by  good  men,  and  with  the  best  intentions. 

"And  now,  beloved  brethren,  we  beseech  you  to  unite  with  us  in 


526  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OP   THE   CHURCH. 

thanksgiving  to  God  for  the  harmony,  and  kind  feeling,  and  decision 
which  have  pervaded  our  deliberations  and  action,  and  for  those  wide 
spread  arid  exuberant  effusions  of  the  Spirit  the  past  year  which,  amid 
unusual  sorrows  and  fears  of  deserved  judgments,  have  caused  the  tide 
of  spiritual  prosperity  to  flow  deep  and  broad;  the  expression  of  sovereign 
mercy  and  the  pledge  of  future  love. 

"  It  is  our  desire  and  expectation  that  ye  will  persevere  in  well  doing, 
and  not  be  seized  with  any  sudden  amazement,  through  manifold  tempta 
tions  and  trials  of  your  faith  and  patience,  and  that  you  will  not  be 
moved  away  from  the  Gospel  which  ye  have  heard,  and  the  '  form  of 
sound  words'  and  salutary  discipline,  so  influential  in  our  past  prosperity. 

11  We  exhort  that  fervent  charity  be  maintained  among  you,  and  a 
spirit  of  prayer  for  the  continued  presence  and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  devotedness  to  those  labors  which  God  especially  employs  for  the 
promotion  of  revivals  of  religion,  the  great  end  of  all  means,  and  the 
comprehension  of  all  spiritual  good. 

"  But  while  these  things  are  faithfully  done,  we  pray  you  that  other 
duties  of  imperious  obligation  and  urgent  necessity  be  not  neglected; 
particularly  that  your  charity  for  home  and  foreign  missions,  and  the 
education  of  a  holy  ministry,  and  for  all  our  long-cherished  voluntary 
associations,  be  not  suffered  to  decline,  but  rather  to  flow  on  with  aug 
mented  power,  and  faith,  and  prayer. 

"  That  especial  care  be  taken  to  send  and  sustain  a  full  representation 
of  the  Church,  as  a  mean  of  a  mutual  communication  of  knowledge,  the 
culture  of  confidence,  and  the  production  of  wise  counsels. 

"  And  now,  brethren,  we  commend  you  to  Him  who  '  is  able  to  keep 
you  from  falling,  and  to  present  you  faultless  before  the  presence  of  His 
glory  with  exceeding  joy/  praying 'that  ye  might  be  filled  with  the 
knowledge  of  His  will  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding,  that 
ye  might  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord  unto  all  pleasing,  being  fruitful  in 
every  good  work,  and  increasing  in  the  knowledge  of  God  j  strengthened 
with  all  might  according  to  His  glorious  power,  unto  all  patience  and 
long-suffering  with  joyfulness.' 

"  Now  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself,  and  God,  even  our .  Father, 
which  have  loved  us,  and  given  us  everlasting  consolation  and  good  hope 
through  grace,  comfort  your  hearts,  and  stablish  you  in  every  good  word 
and  work/' 

"SAM'L  FISHER,  Moderator. 

"  ERSKINB  MASON,  Stated  Clerk. 

"PHILADELPHIA,  May  25th,  1838." 

—Minutes,  1838,  pp.  663-66T. 

9.  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Twelve  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

a.  "In  the  General  Assembly,  May  20,  1839,  Judge  Darling,  from 
the  Committee  of  Twelve,  made  the  following  report  in  part : 


COMMITTEE   OF   TWELVE.  527 

"The  committee  appointed  on  the  21st  May,  1838,  'to  advise  and 
direct  in  respect  to  any  legal  questions  and  pecuniary  interests  that  might 
require  attention  during  the  ensuing  year/  and  who  were  authorized  to 
adopt  all  such  measures  as  they  in  their  judgment  might  deem  proper,  to 
preserve  and  maintain  inviolate  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  General 
Assembly  and  of  the  churches  under  its  jurisdiction,  entered  upon  the 
discharge  of  their  duties  immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the  last 
General  Assembly,  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the  interests 
intrusted  to  them,  with  their  responsibilities  to  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  with  a  determination  to  exert  their  influence  to  bring  the  contro 
versy  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  a  speedy  termination,  on  just  and 
equitable  terms,  which  would  restore  peace  and  harmony  to  our  beloved 
Zion.     They  resolved  not  to  resort  to  the  civil  courts  for  redress,  until 
every  reasonable  hope  of  an  amicable  adjustment  should  be  abandoned, 
and  unless  it  became  necessary  so  to  do  to  protect  and  preserve  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  Church  which  they  represented.     The  trustees 
elected  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  having  been  denied  the  right 
to  take  their  seats  at  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  as  then 
constituted,  and  our  opponents  manifesting  a  determination  to  persist  in 
their  acts  of  injustice  and  oppression,  the  committee,  with  the  notice 
and  under  the  direction  of  their  counsel,  Josiah  Randall  and  William 
Meredith,  Esqs.,  of  Philadelphia,  and  George  Wood,  Esq.,  of  New  York, 
caused  a  writ  of  quo  warranto  to  be  issued,  in  the  name  of  the  Common 
wealth  of  Pennsylvania,  at  the  relation  of  the  Hon.  James  Todd  et  al. 
vs.  the  Rev.  Ashbel  Green,  D.D.,  et  al.,  to  show  cause  by  what  authority 
they  continue  to  usurp  and  hold  the  office  of  trustees,  &c.     The  com 
mittee  adopted  this  mode  of  proceeding  at  the  suggestion  of  their  legal 
advisers,  believing  that,  in  this  form  of  action,  they  would  be  enabled  to 
obtain  a  more  speedy  trial  and  decision  on  the  merits  of  the  controversy 
between  the  Reformed  and  Constitutional  General  Assemblies,  and  on 
the  various  points  of  law  involved  in  the  same,  and  with  less  expense  and 
excitement  than  in  any  other  form  of  action  which  could  be  devised. 
While  this  cause  was  pending,  and  previous  to  the  trial  before  Judge 
Rogers,  at  Nisi  Prius,  the  committee  were  informed  by  one  of  their 
counsel,  that  John  K.  Kane,  Esq.,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and  who  was  of  counsel  for  the  respondents,  had  stated  to 
him  that  those  he  represented  were  disposed  to  adjust,  amicably  and 
equitably,  all  matters  in  controversy  in  this  cause,  and  had  requested 
him  to  ascertain  what  terms  the  committee  would  propose,  as  a  basis  for 
an  amicable  division  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  final  adjust 
ment  of  all  the  matters  in  dispute  between  the  Reformed  and  Constitu 
tional  General  Assemblies.     Upon  inquiry,  the  committee  ascertained 
that  neither  Mr.  Kane,  nor  any  other  person,  was  authorized  to  enter 
into  a  negotiation  with  the  committee  on  the  subject  of  a  compromise; 
that  Mr.  Kane  was  probably  acting  on  his  own  responsibility,  influenced 
by  a  most  laudable  desire  to  promote  union  and  peace  among  the  pro 
fessed  friends  of  the  Redeemer.     The  committee  duly  appreciated  the 


528  XII THE   DIVISION   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

motives  which  prompted  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Kane,  and  keeping  in  view 
the  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  viz.,  'That  this  body 
is  willing  to  agree  to  any  reasonable  measures,  tending  to  an  amicable 
adjustment  of  the  difficulties  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  will  re 
ceive,  and  respectfully  consider,  any  propositions  made  for  that  purpose/ 
they  waived  all  exceptions  which  might  have  been  taken  to  enter  into 
any  negotiation  with,  or  to  making  any  propositions  to,  one  irresponsible 
individual,  and  promptly  requested  their  counsel  to  furnish  Mr.  Kane 
with  a  copy  of  the  following  articles  of  agreement : 


b.  "  ARTICLES  OF  AGREEMENT  PROPOSED. 

"  In  order  to  secure  an  amicable  and  equitable  adjustment  of  the  diffi 
culties  existing  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  Ame 
rica,  it  is  hereby  agreed  by  the  respective  parties,  that  the  following 
shall  be  articles  on  which  a  division  shall  be  made  and  continued  : 

"ART.  I.  The  successors  of  the  body  which  held  its  sessions  in  Ran- 
stead  Court  shall  hereafter  be  known  by  the  name  and  style  of  'The 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America/  The  successors  of  the  body  which  held  its  sessions  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  shall  hereafter  be  'known  by  the  name  and 
style  of  'The  General  Assembly  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Church/ 

"  ART.  II.  Joint  application  shall  be  made  by  the  parties  to  this 
agreement  to  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  for  a  charter  to  incorpo 
rate  trustees  of  each  of  the  respective  bodies,  securing  to  each  the  im 
munities  and  privileges  now  secured  by  the  existing  charter  to  the 
trustees  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  subject,  nevertheless,  to  the  limitations  and 
articles  herein  agreed  on ;  and  when  so  obtained,  the  existing  charter 
shall  be  surrendered  to  the  State. 

"ART.  III.  Churches,  ministers,  and  members  of  churches  as  well  as 
Presbyteries,  shall  be  at  full  liberty  to  decide  to  which  of  the  said  As 
semblies  they  will  be  attached;  and  in  case  the  majority  of  legal  voters 
of  any  congregation  shall  prefer  to  be  connected  with  any  Presbytery 
connected  with  the  Assembly  to  which  their  Presbytery  is  not  attached, 
they  shall  certify  the  same  to  the  stated  clerk  of  the  Presbytery  which 
they  wish  to  leave,  and  their  connection  with  said  Presbytery  shall 
thenceforth  cease. 

"ART.  IV.  The  Theological  Seminary  of  Princeton,  the  Western 
Theological  Seminary,  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  the  Board  of 
Domestic  Missions,  the  Board  of  Education,  with  the  funds  appertain 
ing  to  each,  shall  be  the  property  and  subject  to  the  exclusive  control  of 
the  body  which,  according  to  this  agreement,  shall  be  chartered  under 
the  title  of  '  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America/ 


COMMITTEE    OF   TWELVE.  529 

"  This  agreement  shall  not  be  considered  a  secession  on  the  part  of 
either  body  from  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  Ame 
rica,  but  a  voluntary  and  amicable  division  of  this  Church  into  two  de 
nominations,  each  retaining  all  the  ecclesiastical  and  pecuniary  rights  of 
the  whole  body,  with  the  limitations  and  qualifications  in  the  above  arti 
cles  specified. 

"The  only  reply  which  the  committee  received  to  these  propositions 
was,  that  they  could  not  be  accepted,  but  that  the  Old  School  party 
would  agree  that  the  members  of  the  Constitutional  General  Assembly, 
and  all  who  adhered  to  this  General  Assembly,  should  be  at  liberty  to 
leave  the  Presbyterian  Church  without  molestation  from  them,  and  that 
they  should  not  be  called  seceders.  This  reply,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
committee,  cut  off  all  hope  of  an  amicable  and  just  settlement,  and  closed 
the  door  of  reconciliation.  They,  therefore,  formally  resolved  that  it 
was  inexpedient  to  make  any  further  attempt  to  effect  a  compromise,  and 
that  the  necessary  preparations  be  made  for  the  trial  of  the  cause  now 
pending. 

c.  "  The  result  of  the  trial  of  this  cause  before  Judge  Rogers,  at  Nisi 
Prius,  and  of  the  subsequent  motion  to  set  aside  the  verdict  of  the  jury 
in  this  cause,  is  known  to  all  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly. 
But  the  committee  forbear  entering  into  the  history  of  this  trial,  or  of 
the  causes  which  probably  influenced  the  court  in  bank  to  award  a  new 
trial;  believing  that  this  will  be  done  in  due  time  by  another  committee. 

"  The  committee  cannot  close  this  report  without  bearing  their  testi 
mony  to  the  zeal  and  distinguished  ability  which  the  counsel  for  the 
relators  displayed,  in  the  preparation,  trial,  and  argument  of  this  cause; 
and  although  we  have  not  obtained  all  which  the  justice  of  our  cause 
warranted  us  to  hope  for  and  expect,  yet  much  has  been  gained.  The 
true  history  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Assemblies  of  1837  and  1838,  at 
Ranstead's  Court,  has  been  extensively  circulated.  The  nature  of  the 
difficulties  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  now  better  understood.  The 
public  mind  has  been,  in  a  great  measure,  disabused  of  the  misrepre 
sentations  industriously  circulated  by  certain  presses,  respecting  the 
motives,  views,  and  intentions  of  the  friends  and  adherents  of  the  Con 
stitutional  Presbyterian  Church  ;  while  the  manifest  injustice  which  has 
been  inflicted  upon  us  will  lead  to  the  development  of  Christian  charac 
ter,  which  will  be  of  incalculable  value  to  the  Church.  It  is  true,  we 
have  been  disappointed,  but  not  defeated;  cast  down,  but  not  destroyed. 
Our  cause,  the  committee  believe,  is  not  lost;  but  we  trust  the  judgment 

34 


530  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF    THE   CHURCH. 

on  a  just  and  righteous  verdict  of  a  jury  of  our  country,  is  suspended 
only  for  a  season. 

"  The  committee  view  with  pain  and  regret  the  scene  of  protracted 
litigation  which  lies  in  prospect  before  them,  but  they  believe  that  the 
path  of  duty  is  the  only  path  of  safety,  and  that  they  are  bound  to  main 
tain  and  defend  the  great  principles  of  civil  and  religious  rights  involved 
in  this  case,  and  to  preserve  and  protect  inviolate  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  the  Church  under  the  care  of  this  General  Assembly.  The  committee, 
therefore,  recommend  a  firm  adherence  to  the  standards  and  Constitution 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  •  to  cultivate  union,  that  all  may  act  in  har 
monious  concert,  guided  by  the  immutable  principles  of  truth  and  jus 
tice  ]  leaving  our  cause,  with  explicit  trust  and  confidence,  with  the  great 
Head  of  the  Church,  believing  that  He  will  send  us  deliverance,  and 
cause  truth  and  righteousness  to  prevail." 

Presbyterian  Church  Case.      Charge  of  the  Court. 

d.  u  Rogers,  J. — Gentlemen  of  the  Jur}r, — Before  the  year  1758,  the  Presbyte 
rian  churches  in  this  country  were  under  the  care  of  two  separate  Synods  and 
their  Presbyteries, — the  Synod  of  New  York  and  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia. 

"In  the  year  1758  these  Synods  were  united,  and  were  called  'The  Synod 
of  New  York  and  Philadelphia.'  This  continued  until  the  year  1788,  when 
the  General  Assembly  was  formed.  The  Synod  was  then  divided  into  four 
Synods,  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  Philadelphia,  Virginia,  and 
the  Carolinas  ;  of  these  four  Synods  the  General  Assembly  was  constituted. 

"In  1803,  the  Synod  of  Albany  was  erected.  This  Synod  has  been  from 
time  to  time  subdivided,  and  the  Synods  of  Genesee,  Geneva,  and  Utica,  have 
been  formed. 

"  The  Synod  of  Pittsburg  has  been  also  erected,  out  of  which  the  Synod  of 
the  Western  Reserve  has  been  formed. 

"  These  constitute  the  four  exscinded  Synods,  viz.,  the  Synods  of  Genesee, 
Geneva,  Utica,  and  the  Western  Reserve. 

"  The  General  Assembly  was  constituted  by  every  Presbytery,  at  their  last 
stated  meeting  preceding  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly,  deputing  to 
the  General  Assembly  commissioners,  in  certain  specific  proportions. 

"  The  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  is  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
Church.  The  Constitution  could  not  be  altered,  unless  two-thirds  of  the  Pres 
byteries  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly  prepare  alterations  or  amend 
ments,  and  such  alterations  or  amendments  were  agreed  to  by  the  General 
Assembly. 

"The  form  of  government  was  amended  in  1821.  The  General  Assembly 
now  consists  of  an  '  equal  delegation  of  bishops  and  elders  from  each  Presby 
tery,  in  certain  proportions.' 

"  The  judicatories  of  the  Church  consist  of  the  Session,  of  the  Presbyteries, 
of  Synods,  and  the  General  Assembly. 

"  The  church  Session  consists  of  the  pastor,  or  pastors,  and  ruling  elders  of 
a  particular  congregation.  A  Presbytery,  of  all  the  ministers  and  one  ruling 
elder  from  each  congregation  within  a  certain  district.  A  Synod  is  a  conven- 


CHARGE    OF   THE    COURT.  531 

tion  of  bishops  and  elders,  including  at  least  three  Presbyteries ;  and  the 
General  Assembly,  of  an  '  equal  delegation  of  bishops  and  elders  from  each 
Presbytery,7  in  the  following  proportions,  viz. :  Each  Presbytery  consisting  of 
not  more  than  twenty-four  ministers,  sends  one  minister  and  one  elder ;  and 
each  Presbytery  consisting  of  more  than  twenty-four  ministers,  sends  two  min 
isters  and  two  elders ;  and  in  the  like  proportion  for  every  twenty-four  ministers 
in  any  Presbytery.  The  delegates  so  appointed  are  styled  Commissioners  to 
the  General  Assembly. 

u  The  General  Assembly  is  the  highest  judicatory  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
It  represents,  in  one  body,  all  the  particular  churches  of  this  denomination  of 
Christians. 

"  In  relation  to  this  body,  the  most  important  undoubtedly  are  the  various 
Presbyteries ;  for,  as  was  before  said,  the  General  Assembly  consists  of  an 
equal  delegation  of  bishops  and  elders  from  each  of  the  Presbyteries.  If  the 
Presbyteries  are  destroyed,  the  General  Assembly  falls,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
as  there  would  no  longer  be  any  constituent  bodies  in  existence  from  which 
delegates  could  be  sent  to  the  General  Assembly. 

"  The  Presbyteries  are  essential  features  in  the  form  of  government  in  ano 
ther  particular,  for  before  any  overtures  or  regulations  proposed  by  the  General 
Assembly  to  be  established  as  constitutional  rules,  can  be  obligatory  on  the 
churches,  it  is  necessary  to  transmit  them  to  all  the  Presbyteries,  and  to  receive 
the  returns  of  at  least  a  majority  of  them  in  writing,  approving  thereof. 

"  A  Synod,  as  has  been  before  observed,  is  a  convention  of  bishops  and  elders 
within  a  district,  including  at  least  three  Presbyteries.  The  Synods  have  a 
supervisory  power  over  Presbyteries,  but  unlike  Presbyteries,  as  such  they  are 
not  essential  to  the  existence  of  the  General  Assembly.  If  every  Synod  in  the 
United  States  were  exscinded  and  destroyed,  still  the  General  Assembly  would 
remain  as  the  highest  tribunal  in  the  Church.  In  this  particular  there  is  a  vital 
difference  between  Presbyteries  and  Synods.  The  only  connection  between 
the  General  Assembly  and  the  Synods  is,  that  the  former  has  a  supervisory 
power  over  the  latter. 

"  Having  thus  given  you  an  account  of  such  parts  of  the  form  of  church 
government  as  may  in  some  aspects  of  the  cause,  be  material,  I  shall  now  call 
your  attention  to  the  matter  in  issue. 

"This  proceeding  is  what  is  called  a  ''quo  warranto?  It  is  issued  by  the 
commonwealth,  at  the  suggestion  of  James  Todd  and  others,  against  Ashbel 
Green  and  others,  to  show  by  what  authority  they  claim  to  exercise  the  office 
of  Trustees  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America.  I  must  here  remark,  that  it  is  not  only  an  appropriate, 
but  the  best  method  of  trying  the  issue  in  this  case. 

"It  is  admitted  that,  until  the  24th  of  May,  18H8,  the  respondents  were  the 
rightful  trustees  ;  but  it  is  contended  by  the  relators,  that  on  that  day,  the  24th 
of  May,  1838,  in  pursuance  of  the  act  of  incorporation,  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  changed  one-third  of  the  trustees,  by  the  election 
of  the  relators  in  the  place  and  stead  of  the  respondents. 

"The  28th  March,  1799,  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  declared  Ashbel 
Green  and  seventeen  others  (naming  them),  a  body  politic  and  corporate,  by 
the  name  and  style  of  Trustees  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

"  The  sixth  section  provides  that  the  corporation  shall  not,  at  any  time, 
consist  of  more  than  eighteen  persons  ;  whereof,  the  General  Assembly  may, 
at  their  discretion,  as  often  as  they  shall  hold  their  sessions  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  change  one-third  in  such  a  manner  as  to  the  General  Assembly 
may  seem  proper. 


532  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"  It  was  the  intention  of  the  legislature,  by  the  act  of  incorporation,  to  pro 
vide  for  the  election  of  competent  persons,  who  as  an  incorporated  body,  might, 
with  more  ease  and  in  a  better  manner,  manage  the  temporal  affairs  of  the 
Church.  It  is  only  in  this  aspect  that  we  have  cognizance  of  the  case. 

"  In  this  country,  for  the  mutual  advantage  of  Church  and  State,  we  have 
wisely  separated  the  ecclesiastical  from  the  civil  power.  The  court  has  as  little 
inclination  as  authority  to  interfere  with  the  Church  and  its  government  farther 
than  may  be  necessary  for  its  protection  and  security.  It  is  only  as  it  bears 
upon  the  corporation,  which  is  the  creature  of  the  civil  power,  that  we  have 
any  right  to  determine  the  validity,  or  to  construe  the  acts  and  resolutions  of 
the  General  Assembly. 

'•Although  neither  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  as  such,  nor  the 
General  Assembly  itself,  are  individually  or  aggregately  members  of  the  corpo 
ration,  yet  the  Assembly  has  power,  from  time  to  time,  as  they  may  deem 
proper,  to  change  the  trustees,  and  to  give  special  instructions  for  their  govern 
ment.  They  stand  in  the  relation  of  electors,  and  have  been  properly  denomi 
nated,  in  the  argument,  quasi  corporate.  The  trustees  only  are  the  corpo 
ration  by  express  words  of  the  act  of  the  Assembly. 

"Unhappily,  differences  have  arisen  in  the  Church  (the  nature  of  which  it  is 
not  necessary  for  vis  to  inquire  into),  which  have  caused  a  division  of  its 
members  into  two  parties,  called  and  known  as  the  Old  and  New  School. 
These  appellations  we  may  adopt  for  the  sake  of  designating  the  respective 
parties,  the  existence  of  which  will  have  an  important  bearing  on  some  of  the 
questions  involved  in  this  important  cause.  It  gives  a  key  to  conduct,  which 
it  would  be  otherwise  difficult  to  explain. 

"The  division  continued  to  increase  in  strength  and  virulence  until  the 
Session  of  1837,  when  certain  decisive  measures,  which  will  be  hereafter  stated, 
were  taken  by  the  General  Assembly,  which  at  this  time  was  under  the  control 
of  members  who  sympathize  (as  the  phrase  is)  with  the  principles  of  the  Old 
School. 

"  At  an  early  period  the  Presbyterian  Church,  at  their  own  suggestion. 
formed  unions  with  cognate  churches,  that  is,  with  churches  whose  faith,  prin 
ciples,  and  practice  assimilated  with  their  own,  and  between  whom  there  was 
no  essential  difference  in  doctrine. 

li  On  this  principle  a  Plan  of  Union  and  correspondence  was  adopted  by  the 
Assembly  in  1792,  with  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  with  Vermont 
in  1803,  with  that  of  New  Hampshire  in  1810,  with  Massachusetts  in  1811, 
with  the  Northern  Associate  Presbytery  of  Albany  in  1802,  and  with  the  Re 
formed  Dutch  Church  and  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  in  1798. ' 

"  These  conventions,  as  is  stated,  originated  in  the  measures  adopted  by  the 
General  Assembly  in  1790  and  1791.  The  delegates  from  each  of  the  associ 
ated  churches  not  only  sat  and  deliberated  with  each  other,  but  also  acted  and 
voted  by  virtue  of  the  express  terms  of  the  Union. 

"In  further  pursuance  of  the  settled  policy  of  the  Church  to  extend  its 
sphere  of  usefulness,  in  the  year  1801,  a  Plan  of  Union  between  the  Presby 
terians  and  Congregationalists  was  formed. 

"The  Plan,  which  was  devised  by  the  fathers  of  the  Church  to  prevent  aliena 
tion  and  to  promote  harmony,  was  observed  by  the  General  Assembly,  without 
question  by  them,  until  the  year  1835,  a  period  of  thirty-four  years. 

"At  that  time  it  was  resolved  by  the  General  Assembly,  that  they  deemed 
it  no  longer  desirable  that  churches  should  be  formed  in  their  Presbyterian 
connection,  agreeably  to  the  Plan  adopted  by  the  Assembly  and  General  Asso 
ciation  of  Connecticut,  in  1801.  They,  therefore,  resolved  that  their  brethren 
of  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  be,  and  they  hereby  are,  respectfully 


CHARGE    OF    THE   COURT.  533 

requested  to  consent  that  the  said  Plan  shall  be,  from  and  after  the  next  meet 
ing  of  that  Association,  declared  to  be  annulled.  And  also  resolved  that  the 
annulling  of  said  Plan  shall  not  in  anywise  interfere  with  the  existence  and 
lawful  association  of  churches  which  have  been  already  formed  on  this  Plan. 

"  To  this  resolution  no  reasonable  objection  can  be  made,  and  if  the  matter 
had  been  permitted  to  rest  here,  we  should  not  have  been  troubled  with  this 
controversy.  It  had  not  then  occurred  to  the  Assembly  that  the  Plan  of  Union 
was  unconstitutional.  The  resolutions  are  predicated  on  the  belief  that  the 
agreement  or  compact  was  constitutional.  They  request  that  the  Association 
of  Connecticut  would  consent  to  rescind  it.  It  docs  not  seem  to  have  been 
thought,  that  this  could  be  done  without  their  consent.  And  moreover,  the 
resolution  expressly  saves  the  right  of  existing  churches  which  had  been  formed 
on  that  Plan. 

"  I  must  be  permitted  to  regret,  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  harmony,  that  this 
business  was  not  permitted  to  rest  on  the  basis  of  resolutions  which  breathe 
the  spirit  of  peace  and  good  feeling.  But  unfortunately  the  General  Assembly, 
in  18H7,  which  was  then  under  another  influence,  took  a  different  view  of  the 
question. 

'"  As  the  "Plan  of  Union"  adopted  for  the  new  settlements,  in  1801,  was 
originally  an  unconstitutional  act  on  the  part  of  that  Assembly, — these  im 
portant  standing  rules  having  never  been  submitted  to  the  Presbyteries, — and 
as  they  were  totally  destitute  of  authority  as  proceeding  from  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut,  which  is  invested  with  no  power  to  legislate  in 
such  cases,  and  especially  to  enact  laws  to  regulate  churches  not  within  their 
limits  ;  and  as  much  confusion  and  irregularity  have  arisen  from  this  unnatural 
unconstitutional  system  of  union,  therefore  it  is 

111  Resolved,  Tliat  the  Act  of  the  Assembly  of  1801,  entitled  a  "Plan  of 
Union, Jr  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  abrogated.'  See  Digest,  pp.  2<J7— 299. 

"The  resolution  declares  the  Flan  of  Union  to  be  unconstitutional:  1st, 
because  those  important  standing  rules,  as  they  call  them,  were  not  submitted 
to  the  Presbyteries ;  and  secondly,  because  the  General  Association  of  Con 
necticut  was  invested  with  no  power  to  legislate  in  such  cases,  and  especially 
to  enact  laws  to  regulate  churches  not  within  their  limits. 

"  The  court  is  not  satisfied  with  the  force  of  these  reasons,  and  do  not  think 
the  agreement  or  Plan  of  Union,  comes  within  the  words  or  spirit  of  that 
clause  in  the  Constitution  which  provides,  that  before  any  overture  or  regula 
tions  shall  be  proposed  by  the  General  Assembly,  to  be  established  as  constitu 
tional  rules,  shall  be  obligatory  on  the  churches,  it  shall  be  necessary  to 
transmit  them  to  all  the  Presbyteries,  and  to  receive  the  returns  of  at  least  a 
majority  of  them  approving  thereof.  Nor  is  it  in  the  opinion  of  the  court,  in 
conflict  with  the  Constitution  before  its  amendment  in  1821,  which  provides 
that  no  alteration  shall  be  made  in  the  Constitution,  unless  two-thirds  of  the 
Presbyteries  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly  propose  alterations  or 
amendments,  and  such  alterations  or  amendments  are  agreed  to  by  the  As 
sembly. 

"  It  was  a  regulation  made  by  competent  parties,  and  not  intended  by  either 
as  a  constitutional  rule  ;  nor  was  it  obligatory  on  any  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches  within  their  connection.  Those  who  were  competent  to  make  it, 
were  competent  to  dissolve  it  without  the  assent  of  the  Presbyteries,  as  such, 
which  could  not  be  done  were  it  a  constitutional  rule,  within  the  meaning  of 
the  Constitution.  Whether  one  party  may  dissolve  it  without  the  consent  of 
the  other,  it  might  be  unnecessary  to  decide.  My  opinion  is  that  they  can. 
The  Plan  of  Union  is  intended  to  prevent  alienation,  and  to  promote  union 
and  harmony  in  the  new  settlements. 


534  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"  It  is  not  the  union  of  a  Presbyterian  church  with  a  Congregational  church 
or  churches,  but  it  purports  to  be,  and  is  a  Plan  of  Union  between  individual 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  Churches,  in  that  portion  of 
the  country  which  was  then  denominated  the  new  settlements.  It  is  advisory 
and  recommendatory  in  its  character — has  nothing  obligatory  about  it.  A 
Congregational  church  as  such,  is  not  by  force  of  the  agreement  incorporated 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  has  no  necessary  connection  with  it :  for  it 
is  only  when  the  congregation  consists  partly  of  those  who  hold  the  Congre 
gational  form  of  discipline,  and  partly  of  those  who  hold  the  Presbyterian 
form,  and  there  is  an  appeal  to  the  Presbytery  (as  there  may  be  in  certain 
cases),  that  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Congregational  Church,  consisting 
partly  of  Presbyterians  arid  partly  of  Congregationalists,  may  or  shall  attend 
the  Presbytery,  and  may  have  the  same  right  to  sit  and  act  in  the  Presbytery 
as  a  ruling  elder.  And  whatever  may  have  been  occasionally  the  instances  to 
the  contrary,  this  I  conceive  to  be  the  obvious  construction  of  the  regulation. 
That  part  of  the  agreement  was  intended  as  a  safeguard,  or  protection  of  the 
rights  of  all  the  parties  to  be  affected  by  it,  without  any  design  to  confer  upon 
the  Standing  Committee  all  the  rights  of  a  ruling  elder. 

"  I  view  it  as  a  matter  of  discipline  and  not  of  doctrine,  the  effect  of  which 
is  to  exempt  those  members  of  the  different  communions  who  adopted  it,  from 
the  censures  of  the  church  to  which  they  belong,  and  particularly  the  clerical 
portion  of  them. 

"  The  court  is  also  of  the  opinion,  that  after  an  acquiescence  of  nearly  forty 
years,  and  particularly  after  the  adoption  by  the  Presbyteries  of  the  amended 
Constitution  of  1821,  the  Plan  of  Union  is  not  now  open  to  objection.  The 
Plan  has  been  recognized  by  the  Presbyteries,  at  various  times  and  different 
manners,  under  the  old  and  amended  Constitution.  It  has  been  acted  on  by 
them  and  the  Genera!  Assembly  in  repeated  instances,  and  is  equally  as  obliga 
tory  as  if  it  had  received  the  express  sanction  of  the  Presbyteries,  in  all  the 
forms  known  to  the  Constitution. 

"  That  acquiescence  gives  right,  is  a  principle  which  we  must  admit.  The 
constitutionality  of  the  purchase  and  admission  of  Louisiana  as  a  member  of 
the  Union,  was  doubted  by  some  of  the  wisest  heads  and  purest  hearts  in  the 
country,  but  he  would  be  a  very  bold  man,  indeed,  who  would  now  deny  that 
State,  and  Mississippi,  Arkansas,  and  Missouri  to  be  members  of  the  Con 
federation.  In  the  memorable  struggle  for  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the 
Union,  this  objection  was  never  taken. 

11  Nor  am  I  satisfied  with  the  second  reason,  that  the  General  Association 
of  Connecticut  was  invested  with  no  power  to  legislate  in  such  cases,  and 
especially  to  enact. laws  to  regulate  churches  not  within  their  limits.  Although 
the  General  Assembly  had  the  right  to  annul  the  Plan  of  Union  without  the 
assent  of  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  yet  I  must  be  permitted  to 
say,  that  after  having  acted  on  the  Plan,  and  reaped  all  the  advantages  of  it, 
it  is  rather  discourteous,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  to  attempt  to  abrogate  it  without 
the  consent  of  the  other  party.  Although  the  Association  may  be  an  advisory 
body,  yet  it  does  not  appear  that  any  difficulty  has  been  started  by  them,  or  by 
the  churches  under  their  control.  All  parties  acquiesced  in  it  for  thirty-six 
years,  and  it  would  be  too  late  for  either  now  to  object  to  its  validity.  Nor  is 
there  anything  in  the  idea  that  they  have  no  power  to  regulate  churches  not 
within  their  limits.  This  is  a  matter  of  consent,  arid  there  is  nothing  to  pre 
vent  the  churches  in  one  State,  from  submitting  themselves  to  the  ecclesiastical 
government  of  churches  located  in  another  State.  The  Presbyterian  Church 
has  furnished  us  with  repeated  examples  of  this  kind. 

"  So  far  from  believing  the  Plan  of  Union  to  be  unconstitutional,  I  concur 


CHARGE  OF  THE  COURT.  535 

fully  with  one  of  the  counsel,  that  confined  within  its  legitimate  limits,  it  is  an 
agreement  or  regulation,  which  the  General  Assembly  not  only  had  power  to 
make,  but  that  it  is  one  which  is  well  calculated  to  promote  the  best  interests 
of  religion. 

"If  as  is  stated,  the  Standing  Committee  of  Congregational  Churches  have 
claimed  and  exercised  the  same  rights  as  ruling  elders  in  Presbyteries,  and  in 
the  General  Assembly  itself,  it  is  an  abuse  which  may  be  corrected  by  the 
proper  tribunals,  but  surely  that  is  no  argument,  or  one  of  but  little  weight,  to 
show  that  the  Plan  of  Union  is  unconstitutional  and  void. 

"Although  in  the  opinion  of  the  court,  the  Assembly  have  the  right  to  repeal 
the  Plan  of  Union  without  the  consent  of  the  General  Association  of  Connecti 
cut,  yet  it  was  unjust  to  repeal  it,  without  saving  the  rights  of  existing  ministers 
and  churches. 

"But  whether  the  Plan  of  Union  be  constitutional  or  not,  is  only  material 
so  far  as  it  is  made  the  basis  of  some  subsequent  resolutions,  to  which  your 
attention  will  now  be  directed. 

"  At  the  same  session,  and  after  failure  of  an  attempt  at  compromise,  the 
character  of  which  has  been  the  subject  of  much  comment,  the  General  As 
sembly  resolved,  '  that  by  the  abrogation  of  the  Plan  of  Union  of  1801,  the 
Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve  is,  and  is  hereby  declared  to  be  no  longer  a 
part  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.' 

"  '  Resolved,  That  in  consequence  of  the  abrogation  by  this  General  Assembly 
of  the  Plan  of  Union  of  1801,  between  it  and  the  General  Association  of  Con 
necticut,  as  utterly  unconstitutional,  and  therefore  null  and  void  from  the 
beginning,  the  Synods  of  Utica.  Geneva,  and  Genesee,  which  were  formed  and 
attached  to  this  body,  under  and  in  execution  of  said  '  Plan  of  Union,'  be,  and 
are  hereby  declared  to  be  out  of  the  connection  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America,  and  that  they  are  not,  in  form  or  in  fact,  an 
integral  portion  of  said  church.' 

''  These  resolutions  refer  only  in  name  to  the  four  Synods,  and  if  we  were 
called  on  for  the  construction  alone,  it  might  be  well  doubted  whether  they 
were  intended,  or  could  be  made  to  include  the  Presbyteries  within  their 
limits,  the  constituents  or  electoral  bodies  of  the  General  Assembly  itself.  I 
should  be  inclined,  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  their  rights  from  a  resolution 
so  penal  in  its  character,  to  say  that  they  were  not  included,  neither  in  the 
spirit  nor  the  words  of  the  resolution.  But  this  construction  we  are  prevented 
from  giving  by  their  declarative  resolution.  It  is  there  in  effect  said,  that  it  is 
the  purpose  of  the  General  Assembly  to  destroy  the  relations  of  all  such  Synods, 
and  all  their  constituent  parts,  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  to  the  Presby- 
terian  Church  in  the  United  States.  In  the  fourth  resolution  it  is  declared, 
that  any  Presbytery  within  the  four  Synods,  being  strictly  Presbyterian  in  doc 
trine  and  order,  who  may  desire  to  be  united  with  them,  are  hereby  directed 
to  make  application,  with  a  full  statement  of  their  case,  to  the  next  General 
Assembly,  which  will  take  proper  order  thereon. 

"  There  is  no  mistaking  the  character  of  these  resolutions.  It  is  an  imme 
diate  dissolution  of  all  connection  between  the  four  Synods  and  all  their  con 
stituent  parts,  and  the  General  Assembly.  They  are  destructive  of  the  rights 
of  electors  of  the  General  Assembly.  The  connection  might  be  renewed,  it  is 
true,  by  each  of  the  Presbyteries  making  application  to  the  next  General  As 
sembly,  but  they  are  at  liberty  to  accept  or  refuse  them,  provided  they,  the 
General  Assembly,  deem  them  strictly  Presbyterian  in  doctrine  and  order. 
As  they  had  the  right  to  admit  them,  they  had  the  right  also  to  refuse  them, 
unless  in  their  opinion,  they  were  strictly  Presbyterian  in  doctrine  and  order. 

"  By  these  resolutions,  the  commissioners,  who  had  acted  with  the  General 


536  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

Assembly  up  to  that  time,  were  deprived  of  their  seats.  At  the  same  time, 
four  Synods,  with  twenty-eight  Presbyteries,  were  cut  off  from  all  connection 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  General  Assembly  resolved,  that  because 
the  Plan  of  1801  was  unconstitutional,  those  Synods  and  their  constituent  parts 
are  no  longer  integral  parts  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  You  will  observe,  that  I  have  already  said  the  Plan  of  Union  is  constitu 
tional.  That  reason  therefore  fails.  They  have  resolved  that  it  is  not  only  un 
constitutional,  but  that  it  is  null  and  void  from  the  beginning.  Instead  of  a 
prospective,  they  have  given  their  resolutions  a  retrospective  effect,  the  injustice 
of  which  is  most  manifest. 

"  But  admitting  that  the  Plan  of  Union  is  unconstitutional,  null  and  void, 
from  the  beginning,  I  cannot  perceive  what  justification  that  furnishes  for  the 
exscinding  resolutions.  The  infusion  of  Congregationalists  with  the  Presby 
teries,  or  the  General  Assembly  itself,  does  not  invalidate  the  acts  of  the  Gene 
ral  Assembly.  They  had  a  right,  notwithstanding  the  charter  which  recognizes 
elders  and  ministers  as  composing  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  perform  the 
functions  committed  to  them  by  the  Constitution.  And  among  them  to  esta 
blish  and  divide  Synods,  to  create  Presbyteries,  as  in  their  judgment  the  exigen 
cies  of  the  Church  might  demand. 

Accordingly,  we  find  that  the  four  Synods,  and  all  the  Presbyteries  attached 
to  them,  have  been  formed  since  the  year  1801.  The  Assembly  creates  the 
Synods,  and  the  Synods  the  Presbyteries.  Sometimes  the  Assembly  creates 
the  Presbyteries — a  course  pursued  with  some  of  the  Presbyteries  which  have 
been  exscinded.  They  have  been  established  since,  but  this  is  no  evidence  that 
the  four  exscinded  Synods  were  formed  and  attached  to  the  General  Assembly 
under,  and  in  execution  of,  the  Plan  of  Union.  The  compact,  as  has  been  be 
fore  observed,  was  intended  for  a  different  purpose,  and  imposed  on  the  Pres 
byterian  Churi'h  no  obligation  to  admit  churches  formed  on  the  Plan  as 
members.  It  was  a  voluntary  act,  and  not  the  necessary  result  of  the  agree 
ment  ;  nor  does  it  appear  that  the  Presbyteries  were  formed  and  incorporated 
with  the  Church  on  any  other  terms  or  conditions  than  other  Presbyteries, 
who  were  in  regular  course  taken  into  the  Presbyterian  connection. 

"  But,  gentlemen,  when  resolutions  of  so  unusual  a  character,  so  condemna 
tory,  and  so  destructive  of  the  rights  of  electors,  the  constituents  of  the  As 
sembly  itself,  are  passed,  we  have  a  right  to  require  that  the  substantial  forms 
of  justice  be  observed.  But  so  far  from  this,  the  General  Assembly,  in  the 
plenitude  of  its  power,  has  undertaken  to  exclude  from  all  their  rights  and 
privileges  twenty-eight  Presbyteries,  who  are  its  constituents,  without  notice,  and 
without  even  the  form  of  trial.  By  the  resolutions,  the  commissioners,  who 
had  acted  as  members  of  the  General  Assembly  for  two  weeks,  were  at  once 
deprived  of  their  seats.  Four  Synods,  28  Presbyteries,  509  ministers,  599 
churches,  and  00,000  communicants,  were  at  once  disfranchised  and  de 
prived  of  their  privileges  in  this  Church. 

"  This  proceeding  is  not  only  contrary  to  the  eternal  principles  of  justice, 
the  principles  of  the  common  law,  but  it  is  at  variance  with  the  Constitution 
of  the  Church. 

a  This  proceeding  is  not  in  the  nature  of  a  legislative,  but  it  is  a  judicial 
proceeding  to  all  intents  and  purposes.  It  is  idle  to  deny  that  the  Presbyte 
ries  within  the  infected  districts,  as  they  are  called,  were  treated  as  enemies 
and  offenders  against  the  rules,  regulations,  and  doctrines  of  the  Church.  If 
there  is  anything  that  a  man  values,  it  is  his  religious  rights. 

"And  of  this  opinion  were  the  General  Assembly  themselves,  for,  only  a 
few  days  before,  they  came  to  the  following  resolutions  : 

u  l  Resolved,  1.  That  the  proper  steps  be  now  taken  to  cite  to  the  bar  of  the 


CHARGE  OF  THE  COURT.  537 

next  Assembly,  such  inferior  judicatories  as  are  charged  by  common  fame  with 
irregularities. 

"  '  2.  That  a  special  committee  be  now  appointed  to  ascertain  what  inferior 
judicatories  are  thus  charged  by  common  fame,  prepare  charges  and  specifica 
tions  against  them,  and  to  digest  a  suitable  plan  of  procedure  in  the  matter, 
and  that  said  committee  be  requested  to  report  as  soon  as  practicable/ 

"  Nothing  further  appears  to  have  been  done  in  this  matter  in  the  General 
Assembly,  for,  after  failure  of  the  attempt  at  compromise,  they  appear  to  have 
discovered  a  much  more  expeditious,  if  not  a  more  agreeable,  method  of  effect 
ing  their  object. 

"  I  have  said  that  exscinding  the  Presbyteries  without  notice  and  without 
trial,  was  not  only  contrary  to  the  common  law,  but  it  was  contrary  to  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  Church.  And  it  is  only  necessary  to  open  the  Book  of  Disci 
pline  to  see  how  very  careful  the  fathers  of  the  Church  have  been  to  secure  to 
the  accused  a  full,  fair,  and  impartial  trial. 

"  Notice  is  given  to  the  parties  concerned  at  least  ten  days  before  the  meet 
ing  of  the  judicatory.  The  accused  are  informed  of  the  names  of  all  the  wit 
nesses  to  be  adduced  against  them.  When  the  charges  are  exhibited,  the  time, 
places,  and  circumstances  are  stated,  if  by  possibility  they  can  be  ascertained, 
citations  are  issued,  signed  by  the  moderator  or  clerk  by  order,  and  in  the 
name  of  the  judicatory. 

"Judicatories  are  enjoined  to  ascertain,  before  proceeding  to  trial,  that  their 
citations  have  been  duly  served.  And,  to  secure  a  fair  and  impartial  trial,  the 
witnesses  are  to  be  examined  in  the  presence  of  the  accused,  who  is  permitted 
to  ask  any  question  tending  to  his  own  exculpation.  The  judgment,  when 
rendered,  is  regularly  entered  on  the  records  of  the  judicatory. 

"If  these  proceedings,  before  judgment,  are  requisite  in  the  case  of  the  mean 
est  member  of  the  Church  (the  omission  of  which,  by  any  of  the  inferior  judica 
tories,  would  call  down  on  the  offenders  the  severest  censure  of  the  General 
Assembly),  it  is  inconceivable  that  similar  precautions  are  not  necessary  to 
protect  the  rights  of  Presbyteries,  which  consist  of  many  individuals,  from  the 
injustice,  violence,  and  party  spirit  of  the  General  Assembly  itself.  Constitu 
tions  are  intended  to  protect  the  weak,  the  minority,  from  the  injustice  of  the 
majority. 

"  The  majority,  for  the  most  part,  are  able  to  protect  themselves.  It  is  the 
minority  that  need  protection  ;  and  for  this  purpose  it  is  necessary  to  encircle 
them  with  at  least  all  the  forms  of  justice. 

"  This,  as  has  been  before  observed,  is  a  judicial  act  ;  and  if  a  regular  trial 
had  been  had  and  judgment  rendered,  the  sentence  would  have  been  conclusive. 
We  should  not  have  attempted  to  examine  the  justice  of  the  proceeding,  but 
inasmuch  as  there  have  been  no  citations  and  no  trial,  I  instruct  you  that  the 
resolution  of  the  General  Assembly  exscinding  the  four  Synods  of  Utica,  Ge 
neva,  Genesee,  and  the  Western  Reserve,  are  unconstitutional,  null,  and  void. 

"  The  judgments  of  all  courts,  whether  ecclesiastical  or  civil,  whether  of 
inferior  or  superior  judicatories,  are  absolutely  void  when  rendered  without 
citations  and  without  trial,  and  without  the  opportunity  of  a  hearing. 

"  But  admitting  this  to  be  in  the  nature  of  a  legislative  proceeding,  still  it  is 
void  ;  for  I  deny  the  right  of  any  legislature  to  deprive  an  elector  of  his  right 
to  vote,  either  with  or  without  trial. 

"  This  is  a  power  which  can  only  be  exercised  by  a  judicial  tribunal  who  act 
under  the  sanction  of  an  oath,  who  examine  witnesses  on  oath,  and  who  con 
form  to  all  the  rules  of  evidence  established  by  the  sages  of  the  law. 

"  If  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania  should  dare,  by  resolution  or  otherwise, 
to  deprive  one  of  you,  gentlemen,  of  your  rights  as  an  elector,  it  would  be  the 


538  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF    THE   CHURCH. 

duty  of  the  court  to  declare  such  an  act  null  and  void.  I  am  unable  to  distin 
guish  the  difference  between  the  two  cases. 

"  Whether  the  General  Assembly  is  the  proper  tribunal,  in  the  first  instance, 
for  the  trial  of  offence,  or  whether  the  Presbyteries  are  amenable  to  their  judi- 
catories  in  this  or  any  other  mode,  it  is  unnecessary  to  decide,  as  the  court  are 
clearly  of  the  opinion,  that  if  they  have  the  right,  it  must  be  exercised  with 
the  same  rules  and  regulations  which  are  applicable  to  the  inferior  judicatories. 

''Personal  process  in  such  case  may  be  tedious,  agitating,  and  troublesome  in 
the  highest  degree,  but  it  is  obviously  not  impossible.  Nor  does  it  strike  me  as 
impossible  to  devise  a  plan  under  the  Constitution  to  correct  heresy  and  schism 
without  resort  to  personal  process  in  such  case.  But  if  it  were  so,  this  is  an 
excuse,  but  it  is  no  justification  of  the  exscinding  resolutions. 

"  Offenders,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  Church,  may  be  brought  before  a 
judicatory  by  common  fame.  But  I  perceive  no  power  given  to  convict  on 
common  fame. 

"  You  will  remark,  gentlemen,  that  the  Presbyteries,  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  Church,  are  the  electors  of  the  General  Assembly.  Their  right  of  repre 
sentation  has  been  taken  away  without  trial,  without  the  examination  (as  far 
as  we  know)  of  a  single  witness. 

"  Whether  these  Presbyteries  have  Congregational  churches  in  their  connec 
tion,  is  not  now  material.  It  is  possible  that,  had  a  trial  been  had,  that  point, 
which  is  deemed  so  important,  may  have  been  disproved.  At  any  rate,  it 
would  seem  a  singular  reason  for  dissolving  a  whole  Presbytery,  that  one 
church  was  contaminated  with  false  and  heretical  doctrines,  or  doctrines  not 
strictly  Presbyterian  ;  that  a  whole  Presbytery  should  be  ejected,  because  a 
single  church  was  governed  without  the  benefit  of  ruling  elders.  It  would  be 
a  reason,  perhaps  a  good  one,  for  cutting  off  that  church  from  the  Presbyterian 
connection,  but  none  for  casting  out  the  whole  Presbytery.  And  this,  gentle 
men,  would  be  particularly  severe  on  the  members  and  congregations,  when 
the  fact  was  known,  at  the  time  the  Presbytery  was  created,  such  connection 
did  exist. 

"If,  however,  after  having  condemned  this  (as  it  is  called)  unnatural  con 
nection,  the  Presbyteries  should  obstinately  continue  to  adhere  to  it,  then  they 
would  justly  expose  themselves  to  the  severest  censures  of  the  Church.  But 
whether  there  is  any  mode  known  to  the  Constitution  by  which  a  Presbytery 
can  be  deprived  of  the  right  of  representation  on  the  floor  of  the  General  As 
sembly,  is  a  point  which  is  not  necessary  to  the  case,  and  which  I  shall  not 
undertake  to  decide. 

"I  have  been  requested  by  the  respondents'  counsel  to  instruct  you  that  the 
introduction  of  lay  delegates  from  Congregational  establishments  into  the 
judicatories  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  a  violation  of  the  fundamental 
principle  of  Presbyterianism,  and  a  contradiction  of  the  act  of  the  Legislature 
of  Pennsylvania,  incorporating  the  trustees  of  the  Church.  But  any  act  per 
mitting  such  introduction  would  therefore  have  been  void,  although  submitted 
to  the  Presbyteries.  As  an  abstract  question  on  this  point,  I  give  an  affirma 
tive  answer,  although,  gentlemen,  I  am  unable  to  see  the  bearing  it  has  on  the 
matter  at  issue  in  this  case. 

"  You  have  already  seen  that  the  court  is  of  the  opinion,  that  the  exscinding 
resolutions  are  unconstitutional,  null,  and  void  ;  yet  this  did  not  of  itself  dis 
solve  the  General  Assembly.  The  Assembly  was  dissolved  at  the  termination 
of  its  session.  You  will  perceive  in  the  course  of  the  remarks  which  I  shall 
have  to  make  to  you,  that  the  acts  of  this  Assembly  will  have  an  important 
influence  on  the  proceedings  of  the  Assembly  of  1838. 

"  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  entitled  to  decide 


CHARGE   OF    THE    COURT.  539 

upon  the  right  claimed  by  any  one  to  a  seat  in  that  body,  but  unlike  legislative 
bodies,  their  decision  is  the  subject  of  revision.  Ecclesiastical  judicatories  are 
subject  to  the  control  of  the  law. 

"  J  also  instruct  you  that  a  mandamus  would  not  reach  the  case,  for  before 
the  remedy  could  be  applied,  the  General  Assembly  would  be  dissolved,  and  it 
would  be  impossible  to  foresee  whether  the  next  Assembly  would  persist  in 
their  illegal  and  unconstitutional  course  of  conduct.  You  will  recollect  that 
the  commissioners  are  elected  a  short  time  before  the  meeting  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and  that  that  body,  which  sits  but  a  few  weeks  for  the  transaction 
of  business,  is  dissolved,  and  a  new  General  Assembly  is  called  at  the  termina 
tion  of  the  sessions. 

"  Having  thus  disposed  of  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1 837, 
we  will  now  proceed  to  the  acts  of  1838.  Jt  will  perhaps  conduce  to  a  proper 
understanding  of  the  somewhat  extraordinary  proceedings  which  then  took 
place,  to  advert  to  the  practice  of  the  General  Assembly  in  times  of  less  excite 
ment  and  interest  than  existed  on  that  occasion. 

'•After  the  business  of  the  Assembly  is  finished,  the  General  Assembly  is 
dissolved,  and  another  General  Assembly  is  directed  to  be  chosen  in  the  same 
manner,  to  meet  at  a  time  and  place  designated  by  the  Assembly. 

"  The  moderator,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  another  member  appointed  for 
the  purpose,  opens  the  next  meeting  with  a  sermon ;  he  is  directed  to  hold  the 
chair  till  a  new  moderator  be  chosen.  As  this  is  for  the  purpose  of  organiza 
tion,  it  is  not  necessary  that  he  be  a  member,  nor  is  it  necessary  that  the  clerks 
should  be  members  who  are  requested  to  attend  for  the  same  purpose. 

"By  the  practice  of  the  Assembly,  in  pursuance  of  a  regulation  for  that 
purpose,  the  stated  and  permanent  clerks  are  a  standing  committee  on  com 
missions.  To  them  are  submitted  the  commissions  of  members;  they  decide 
on  them  in  the  first  place,  and  if  unexceptionable  in  form  or  substance,  they 
are  enrolled  as  members  of  the  house ;  if  exceptionable,  they  report  them  as 
such  in  a  separate  list.  The  moderator,  after  divine  service,  opens  the  session 
with  prayer.  He  takes  his  seat  as  moderator,  and  proceeds  to  organize  the 
house.  The  first  business  in  order  is  the  report  of  the  clerks,  who  are  the 
Committee  on  Commissions,  who  make  a  report,  stating  on  the  roll  those  who 
are  members,  and  designating,  either  in  the  roll  or  in  a  separate  list,  those 
whose  commissions  have  been  examined  and  found  defective,  either  in  form  or 
in  substance. 

a  The  next  business  in  order  is  to  appoint  a  Committee  on  Elections  from  the 
list  of  members  who  have  been  enrolled. 

"  To  that  committee  are  referred  the  commissions  of  such  persons  as  may 
claim  seats  whose  commissions  have  been  examined  and  rejected. 

"  It  is  usual  to  appoint  the  Committee  on  Elections  on  the  morning  of  the 
first  day  of  the  session,  and  they,  unless  in  cases  of  difficulty,  report  to  the 
house  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  house  decides  upon  the  propriety  of  the  report. 
Jt  would  seem  also  to  be  the  practice,  that  when  a  commissioner  has  omitted 
to  hand  in  his  commission  to  the  clerks  before  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly, 
he  may  do  so  in  the  Assembly,  and  the  Committee  of  Commissions  may  add 
his  name  to  the  roll  of  members. 

"  After  the  house  is  organized,  they  proceed  to  the  choice  of  a  moderator 
and  stated  and  permanent  clerks  to  preside  over  their  deliberations,  and  to 
keep  their  records  daring  their  session. 

u  You  will  observe  that  I  am  speaking  of  the  rules  of  practice  in  the  sessions 
of  1  S3 7  and  1838. 

"As  the  Church  increased  in  numbers,  and,  I  may  add,  without  giving 
offence,  after  the  spirit  of  contention  increased  also  in  the  same  or  greater 


540  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

* 

ratio,  the  simplicity  of  the  ancient  practice  gradually  changed.  The  changes 
have  been  stated  with  great  clearness  by  one  of  our  venerable  fathers,  but  as 
we  have  to  do  with  existing  rather  than  ancient  rules,  it  is  not  necessary  ibr 
me  to  notice  them. 

"The  jury  will  recollect  that  the  court  has  decided  that  the  exscinding 
resolutions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  183V  were  unconstitutional,  null,  and 
void. 

"It  results  from  this  opinion,  that  the  commissioners  from  the  Presbyteries 
within  the  bounds  of  these  Synods  had  the  same  right  to  seats  in  the  General 
Assembly  as  the  members  from  other  Presbyteries  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Assembly,  liable  to  be  dealt  with  by  them  in  the  same  manner  as  commis 
sioners  from  other  Presbyteries. 

"It  was  under  these  circum'stances  they  presented  themselves  with  commis 
sions,  in  proper  form,  to  Mr.  Krebs  and  Dr.  McDowell,  the  clerks  of  the  former 
Assembly.  They  not  only  rejected  their  commissions,  but  refused  to  put  their 
names  on  the  roll  at  all. 

"I  shall  not  now  stop  to  inquire  whether  these  gentlemen  were  or  were  not 
pledged  to  the  course  they  thought  proper  to  pursue,  nor  into  the  question, 
whether  they  were  the  judges  of  the  constitutionality  of  an  act  of  a  former  As 
sembly,  as  I  am  clearly  of  the  opinion,  and  so  I  instruct  you,  that  they  grossly 
erred  in  refusing  to  place  their  names  on  the  list  of  rejected  applicants.  They 
were  the  Committee  on  Commissions  to  whom  such  questions  are  in  the  first 
place  referred.  It  was  their  duty  to  decide  on  the  propriety  of  the  application, 
and  to  refer  the  decision  to  the  further  action  of  the  house,  by  adding  their 
names  to  the  roll  of  members  whose  commissions  had  been  examined  and 
rejected. 

"  They  cannot  consider  commissions,  in  other  respects  regular,  as  alien  and 
outlawed,  merely  because  they  proceeded  from  Presbyteries  that  had  been  un 
constitutionally  put  out  of  the  pale  of  the  Church  without  citation  and  without 
trial. 

"It  is.  therefore,  the  opinion  of  the  court,  that  in  this  there  was  a  palpable 
violation  of  the  rights  of  the  proscribed  commissioners.  -And  this,  gentlemen, 
was  the  second  error  committed,  and  which  led  to  the  scene  of  disorder  which 
ensued,  so  little  creditable  to  a  Christian  assembly. 

"  After  the  moderator,  Dr.  Elliott,  had  taken  the  chair,  Dr.  Patton  addressed 
the  chair,  and  stated  that  he  had  certain  resolutions  to  offer.  The  moderator 
decided  that  he  was  out  of  order;  that  the  first  business  was  the  report  of  the 
clerks,  who,  you  will  recollect,  were  the  Committee  on  Commissions. 

11  Dr.  Patton  stated  that  his  motion  or  resolution  had  reference  to  the  forma 
tion  of  the  roll;  that  it  was  his  intention  to  make  his  motion,  and  have  the 
question  taken  without  debate.  The  moderator  said  the  clerks  were  proceed 
ing  with  their  report.  Dr.  Patton  reminded  the  moderator  that  he  had  the 
floor  before  the  clerks.  The  moderator  still  decided  that  he  was  out  of  order; 
whereupon  Dr.  Patton  respectfully  appealed  from  the  decision  of  the  chair. 
The  moderator  decided  that  the  appeal  was  out  of  order,  and  stated  as  a  reason 
for  the  decision,  that  there  was  no  house  to  which  the  appeal  could  be  taken. 

"  The  Court  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  decision  of  the  moderator  was  correct, 
for  the  reason  given  by  him.  It  is  a  rule  of  the  Assembly,  that  no  persons 
shall  be  permitted  to  vote,  unless  they  are  enrolled,  and  until  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  Commissions,  it  cannot  be  judicially  known  who  are  members 
of  the  house,  and  as  such,  privileged  to  take  part  in  the  organization.  If,  how 
ever,  there  was  a  majority  for  it,  arising  from  the  absence  of  the  moderator,  or 
the  refusal  of  the  clerks  to  report  the  roll,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  or- 


CHARGE  OF  THE  COURT.  541 

ganizing  the  Assembly.  The  decision  of  the  moderator  was  correct,  if  the 
reason  assigned  was  the  true  reason. 

"  After  this  disposition  of  Dr.  Patton's  motion,  the  clerks  made  a  report, 
omitting,  improperly,  as  has  been  before  stated,  the  names  of  the  commissioners 
from  the  exscinded  Presbyteries;  and  the  moderator  announced  to  those  who 
had  not  presented  their  commissions,  that  now  was  the  time  to  present  them, 
and  have  themselves  enrolled.  Some  of  the  witnesses  say  that  the  moderator 
announced  that,  if  there  were  any  names  omitted,  this  was  the  time  to  present 
their  commissions.  The  one  side  say  that  this  was  a  distinct  intimation  from 
the  moderator  himself,  that  now  was  the  time  to  present  the  commissions  of 
the  commissioners  from  the  exscinded  Presbyteries.  The  other  say  it  included 
those  only  who  had  not  presented  their  commissions  to  the  clerks-,  that  the 
only  course  to  be  pursued,  as  to  those  who  had  presented  their  commissions, 
and  had  their  claim  to  be  enrolled  refused,  was  to  have  their  case  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Elections,  on  whose  report  only  would  it  come  properly  be 
fore  the  Assembly. 

"  However  the  fact  may  be, — and  this  of  course  you  will  decide, — at  this 
time  Dr.  Mason,  a  member  whose  seat  was  uncontested,  and  who  had  been  re 
ported  by  the  clerks  to  the  house  as  a  member,  moved  that  the  names  of  the 
commissioners  from  the  exscinded  Synods  should  be  added  to  the  roll.  He 
had  the  commissions  in  his  hand,  and  at  the  time  of  the  motion,  stated  that 
they  were  the  commissions  of  commissioners,  which  had  been  rejected  by  the 
clerks.  The  moderator  inquired  from  what  Presbyteries  those  commissioners 
came.  Dr.  Mason  replied,  they  came  from  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva,  Gen- 
esee,  and  the  Western  Reserve.  The  moderator  declared  Dr.  Mason  out  of 
order,  or  said  that  he  was  out  of  order  at  that  time.  The  witnesses  differ  as 
to  the  precise  expression ;  but,  whatever  may  have  been  the  reason  assigned, 
they  all  concur  that  the  moderator  declared  Dr.  Mason  out  of  order.  Dr. 
Mason  said  that,  with  great  respect  to  the  chair,  he  must  appeal  from  the  de 
cision.  The  appeal  was  seconded.  The  moderator  refused  to  put  the  appeal, 
declaring  the  appeal  to  be  out  of  order. 

"In  this  stage  of  the  cause,  it  is  unnecessary  to  decide  whether  the  original 
motion  was  or  was  not  out  of  order.  I  shall  put  this  part  of  the  case  on  the 
refusal  of  the  moderator  to  put  the  question  on  the  appeal.  The  question  is 
not,  whether  an  appeal  may  not  be  out  of  order,  but  it  is,  whether  this  appeal 
was  out  of  order.  If  the  moderator  had  put  the  question  on  the  appeal,  it  is 
possible  that  the  house  would  have  decided  that  the  original  motion  was  out 
of  order.  They  might  have  thought  that  the  matter  was  properly  referable  to 
the  Committee  of  Elections — that  it  was  a  privileged  question  ;  or  the  Assem 
bly  might  by  possibility  have  taken  a  different  view  of  the  question.  And  what 
ever  they  might  have  thought  and  decided  would  have  been  conclusive. 

"  But,  by  refusing  to  put  the  question,  the  moderator  took  all  power  to  him 
self  over  this  question.  No  reason  was  given  by  the  moderator.  Jt  rested 
simply  upon  his  will.  In  the  opinion  of  the  court,  it  was  a  dereliction  of  duty, 
a  usurpation  of  authority,  which  called  for  the  censure  of  the  house.  He 
could  not  then  allege,  as  he  had  done  on  a  former  occasion,  that  there  was  no 
house  to  which  the  appeal  could  be  taken.  At  that  time,  you  will  recollect, 
that  the  clerks  had  made  their  report,  and  it  was  then  ascertained  what  mem 
bers  had  a  right  to  vote. 

u  Had  the  question  on  the  appeal  been  allowed,  it  could  then  have  been  as 
certained  whether  a  motion  had  been  made  for  the  appointment  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Elections.  As  it  is,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  motion  was  made 
before  or  after  the  motion  made  by  Dr.  Mason. 

"  And  here  let  me  remark,  that  I  look  upon  the  refusal  of  the  clerks  to  put 


542  XII. — THE   DIVISION   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

the  names  of  the  commissioners  on  the  roll,  and  this  refusal  of  the  moderator 
to  put  the  question  on  the  appeal  to  the  house,  as  most  unfortunate. 

"  If  the  excitement  did  not  then  commence,  yet  it,  with  the  uproar  and  con 
fusion  which  ensued,  from  this  time  greatly  increased.  After  the  refusal  of 
the  moderator  to  allow  an  appeal,  the  Rev.  Miles  Squier  arose  and  said,  that 
lie  had  presented  his  commission  to  the  clerks,  which  they  had  refused  to  re 
ceive.  The  moderator  asked  from  what  Presbytery  lie  came.  He  said  from 
the  Presbytery  of  Geneva.  The  moderator  asked  if  it  was  within  the  bounds 
of  the  Synod  of  Geneva.  He  said  it  was.  The  moderator  then  replied,  We 
do  not  know  you-  The  precise  meaning  and  import  of  these  words  has  been 
the  subject  of  comment.  It  will  be  for  you  to  give  them  such  weight  as  you 
think  them  entitled  to,  in  another  part  of  this  cause. 

"  And  here,  let  me  remark,  that  the  witness  had  not  a  right,  whatever  injus 
tice  he  may  have  suffered,  either  to  speak  or  vote  on  any  question  before  the 
house.  He  had  not  been  reported  as  a  member  by  the  clerks  ;  and  the  rules 
of  the  General  Assembly  required,  that  before  a  member  speak  or  vote  he 
must  be  enrolled. 

"  To  this  time  the  witnesses  substantially  agree  in  their  statement.  There 
was  but  little  noise,  and  but  little  confusion.  Every  person  saw,  and  every 
person  heard,  all  the  transactions  in  the  Assembly. 

"  And  here,  gentlemen,  it  will  be  your  solemn  duty  respectfully,  but  firmly, 
to  decide  upon  the  conduct  of  the  moderator. 

"  Was  he  performing  his  duty,  as  the  presiding  officer  of  the  house,  in  its 
organization  ?  or  was  he  carrying  out  the  unconstitutional  and  void  proceeding 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  1837,  which  cut  off  from  the  body  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church  four  Synods,  twenty-eight  Presbyteries,  five  hundred  and  nine 
ministers,  and  near  sixty  thousand  communicants,  without  citation,  and  with 
out  trial  ? 

"  I  put  the  question  to  you,  because  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  court  that  the 
General  Assembly  has  a  right  to  depose  its  moderator,  upon  sufficient  cause. 

"  This  power  is  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  house,  otherwise  the 
moderator,  instead  of  being  the  servant  would  be  the  master  of  the  house. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Church  that  restricts  or  impairs 
the  right. 

"It  applies  to  all  moderators,  whether  moderators  for  the  session,  or  mode 
rators  for  organization.  The  right  is,  perhaps,  less  questionable  in  the  latter 
than  in  the  former  case.  He  is  a  ministerial  as  well  as  a  judicial  officer. 

"  Nor  do  I  think  that  they  are  restrained  in  their  choice  to  a  moderator  of  a 
former  year,  who  may  be  present.  That  rule  applies  only  to  ordin-ary  cases, 
when  the  moderator  of  the  last  year  is  not  in  attendance,  or  is  unable,  from 
some  physical  reason,  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office.  It  does  not  apply 
to  the  peculiar  and  extraordinary  circumstances  of  this  case. 

"  The  deposition  of  a  moderator,  and  the  election  of  another  in  his  place,  it 
appears,  is  not  without  precedent  in  the  history  of  the  Church. 

"  There  is  one  thing  certain,  that  the  deposition  of  a  moderator,  and  the 
election  of  another,  if  in  other  respects  regular,  will  not  of  itself  vitiate  the 
organization. 

"  After  Mr.  Squier  had  taken  his  seat,  upon  the  emphatic  declaration  of  the 
moderator,  we  do  not  know  you,  Mr.  Cleveland  arose. 

a  Mr.  Cleveland  held  in  his  hand  a  paper,  from  which  he  read,  at  the  same 
time  accompanying  it  with  remarks  not  on  the  paper.  It  is  not  distinctly  in 
evidence  what  he  did  say,  but  in  substance  it  was  perhaps  this  : 

"  That  as  the  commissioners  to  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  from  a  large 


CHARGE   OF   THE    COURT.  543 

number  of  Presbyteries,  had  been  refused  their  seats,  and  as  we  have  been 
advised  by  counsel,  learned  in  the  law,  that  a  constitutional  organization  of  the 
Assembly  must  be  secured  at  this  time  and  in  this  place,  he  trusted  it  would 
not  be  considered  as  an  act  of  discourtesy,  but  merely  a  matter  of  necessity,  if 
we  now  proceed  to  organize  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  in  the  fewest 
words,  the  shortest  time,  and  with  the  least  interruption  practicable. 

u  Mr.  Cleveland  then  moved  that  Dr.  Beman,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Troy,  be 
moderator,  or,  as  some  of  the  witnesses  say,  that  he  take  the  chair.  The 
motion  being  seconded,  the  question  was  put  by  Mr.  Cleveland,  and  was 
carried,  as  the  witnesses  for  the  relators  say,  by  a  large  majority,  and  by  this 
they  mean  that  a  large  majority  of  voices  voted  in  the  affirmative.  The 
question  was  reversed,  and,  as  the  same  witnesses  say,  there  were  some  voices 
coming  from  the  southwest  corner  of  the  church,  who  voted  in  the  negative. 
This  is  denied  by  the  respondents. 

"  Dr.  Beman,  who  was  sitting  in  a  pew,  the  locality  of  which  has  been 
described  to  you,  stepped  into  the  aisle  and  called  the  house  to  order.  A  motion 
was  then  made  that  Dr.  Mason  and  Mr.  Gilbert  be  appointed  clerks.  There 
being  no  others  put  in  nomination,  the  question  was  put  by  the  moderator,  Dr. 
Beman,  in  the  affirmative  and  negative,  and  there  was  a  majority  of  voices  in 
their  favor. 

"  Dr.  Beman  then  stated  that  the  next  business  in  order  was  the  election  of 
a  moderator.  A  member  nominated  Dr.  Fisher,  and  no  other  person  being  in 
nomination,  the  question  was  put  affirmatively  and  negatively,  and  Dr.  Fisher 
was  elected  by  a  large  majority  of  voices.  There  were  no  negative  votes  on 
this  nomination ;  several  of  the  witnesses  say  he  was  unanimously  elected. 

"  Dr.  Beman  then  announced  the  election  of  Dr.  Fisher  as  moderator,  and 
said  he  should  govern  himself  by  the  rules  which  might' be  hereafter  adopted. 

"  Dr.  Fisher  stepped  into  the  aisle,  moved  towards  the  north  end  of  the 
church,  and  called  for  business ;  and  Dr.  Mason  and  Mr.  Gilbert  were  chosen 
clerks,  no  others  being  put  in  nomination. 

"  Dr.  Beman  stated  that  some  difficulties  had  been  made  by  the  trustees 
about  the  occupation  of  the  church  in  which  they  were  then  sitting.  To  avoid 
difficulty,  a  motion  was  made  to  adjourn  to  meet  forthwith  at  the  lecture-room 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  The  question  was  taken  on  the  motion, 
and  was  decided  in  the  affirmative,  there  being  no  votes  in  the  negative.  The 
result  of  the  vote  was  announced  by  Dr.  Fisher,  who  then  stated  if  there  were 
any  commissioners  who  had  not  presented  their  commissions,  they  might  then 
and  there  attend  for  that  purpose.  The  members  of  the  house  then  repaired 
to  the  lecture-room  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  proceeded  with  their 
business,  and  on  the  24th  of  May,  1838,  elected  the  relators  trustees,  in  the 
place  and  stead  of  the  respondents. 

"  This  is  the  relators'  case,  and  here  I  will  direct  your  attention  to  some  of 
the  points  which  have  been  raised  by  the  respondents'  counsel. 

"  The  respondents  contend  that  Mr.  Cleveland  had  no  right  to  put  the  ques 
tion.  They  object,  also,  to  the  time  and  manner  of  putting  the  question.  Under 
one  or  other  of  these  points  I  will  endeavor  to  include  the  question  which  has 
been  raised,  and  which  has  been  argued  with  such  force  and  with  such  a 
variety  of  illustrations. 

"  Had  Mr.  Cleveland  a  right  to  put  this  question  ?  It  must  be  conceded, 
that  unless  he  was  authorized  to  take  the  sense  of  the  house,  the  members  were 
not  bound  to  vote  against  it.  In  ordinary  cases,  it  is  usual  for  a  member  who 
moves  a  question,  to  put  it  in  writing,  and  deliver  it  to  the  speaker,  who,  when 
it  has  been  seconded,  propcses  it  to  the  house,  and  the  house  are  then  said  to 
be  in  possession  of  the  question.  But  this,  the  relators  say,  is  not  an  ordinary 


544  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

question,  but  one  of  a  peculiar  nature.  They  allege,  that  the  moderator  had 
shown  gross  partiality  and  injustice  in  the  chair;  that  he  was  engaged  in  a 
plan  or  scheme  to  carry  out  the  unconstitutional  and  void  Act  of  1837,  which 
deprived  certain  commissioners  of  their  seats  ;  that  this  authorized  the  house 
to  displace  him,  and  to  elect  another  to  discharge  the  duties  which  he  failed  or 
was  unwilling  to  perform.  If  this  were  so,  of  which  you  are  the  judges,  Mr. 
Cleveland  had  a  right  to  take  the  sense  of  the  house  on  the  propriety  of  the 
moderator's  conduct.  It  would  be  worse  than  useless  to  require  him  to  put  the 
question  on  his  own  deposition,  for  this  the  house  were  authorized  to  believe  he 
would  refuse  to  perform,  as  he  had  failed  in  the  performance  of  his  duty  before. 
The  law  compels  no  person  to  do  a  vain  or  nugatory  thing.  The  law  maxim 
is,  i Lex  neminem  cogit  ad  vann:  seu  impossibile?  Nor,  gentlemen,  was  it 
necessary  that  it  should  be  taken  by  clerks,  if  they,  as  well  as  the  moderator, 
were  engaged  in  the  same  plan,  to  deprive  members  of  their  seats,  to  which 
they  were  justly  and  constitutionally  entitled.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  court, 
that  a  member,  although  not  an  officer,  is  entitled  to  put  a  question  to  the  house 
in  such  circumstances. 

"  The  motion  which  Mr.  Cleveland  made,  after  explaining  his  object,  was 
either  that  Dr.  Beman  be  moderator,  or  that  Dr.  Beman  be  called  to  the  chair. 
It  is  of  no  consequence  in  which  form  the  motion  was  made.  They  are  sub 
stantially  the  same.  The  motion  amounted  to  this :  that  Dr.  Elliott,  who 
occupied  the  chair,  should  be  deposed,  and  that  Dr.  Beman  should  be  elected 
chairman  and  moderator  in  his  stead.  It  was  a  pertinent  question,  easily  under 
stood,  and  not  calculated  to  mislead  the  dullest  member  of  the  Assembly.  It 
was  in  proper  form,  and  in  proper  time ;  for,  gentlemen,  it  was  not  necessary 
to  precede  it  by  a  motion  that  the  house  should  now  proceed  to  the  choice  of  a 
moderator.  All  these  requisites  are  substantially  comprised  in  the  motion 
which  was  made.  There  was  nothing  in  the  question,  or  in  the  manner  of 
putting,  which  was  disorderly,  or  which  might  have  led  to  disorder.  Mr.  Cleve 
land  put  the  question  to  the  house,  which,  under  certain  circumstances,  of 
which  I  have  already  said  you  are  the  judges,  he  had  a  right  to  do.  In  the 
course  of  his  remarks,  he  turned  himself  partly  round  from  the  moderator ; 
but  this,  so  far  as  any  point  of  law  is  involved,  is  of  no  sort  of  consequence. 
It  is  also  contended  by  the  respondents,  that  the  claim  of  members  to  seats, 
according  to  the  standing  order  of  the  house,  was  referable  to  the  Committee 
on  Elections,  and  further  that  the  house  cannot  enter  into  business  until  the 
organization  is  complete.  The  latter  point  the  court  answers  in  the  negative. 
There  is  no  doubt  the  house  may  elect  a  moderator,  although  the  seats  of  some 
of  the  members  are  contested.  In  general,  they  would  prefer  to  await  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Elections  ;  but  this  would  be  a  matter  of  discretion. 
The  right  to  seats  would  be  as  well,  if  not  better  decided,  after  the  house  was 
organized  by  the  election  of  a  moderator,  as  when  it  was  in  its  inchoate  or 
incipient  state.  Such  an  objection  would  not  vitiate  the  organization,  whatever 
cause  there  might  be  on  the  part  of  those  who  had  been  deprived  of  seats,  to 
complain  of  the  precipitation  of  the  Assembly  in  proceeding  to  business,  par 
ticularly  if  done  with  a  view  of  preventing  them  from  partaking  in  the  business. 

"In  deciding  on  the  first  point,  and  others  which  have  been  raised  by  the 
respondents,  it  is  necessary  to  advert  to  the  nature  of  the  questions  themselves. 

"  Dr.  Mason  moved  that  the  names  of  certain  members  who  had  been  uncon 
stitutionally  and  unjustly  deprived  of  seats  in  the  Assembly,  should  be  added 
to  the  roll.  The  motion  of  Mr.  Cleveland,  and  the  subsequent  resolutions  or 
motions,  were  the  consequences  of  the  decision  of  the  moderator,  that  Dr. 
Mason's  motion  was  out  of  order,  and  the  refusal  of  the  moderator  to  allow  an 
appeal  to  the  house.  The  right  of  members  was  unjustly  invaded,  and  from 


CHARGE   OF   THE   COURT.  545 

this  moment  it  became  a  question  of  privilege,  which  overrides  all  other 
questions  whatever.  A  question  of  privilege  is  always  in  order,  to  which 
privileged  questions,  such  as  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  elections, 
must  give  way.  The  cry,  therefore,  of  'order'  from  the  moderator,  or  from 
any  member  whatever,  under  such  circumstances,  would  be  disorderly.  Two 
inconsistent  rights  cannot  exist  at  the  same  time,  and  it  is  obvious  that  if  a 
member,  or  the  moderator,  may  put  a  stop  to  a  proceeding  which  involves  in 
it  the  conduct  of  the  moderator  himself  in  the  discharge  of  his  high  functions, 
and  a  question  of  privilege,  by  the  cry  of  order,  it  would  be  an  easy  and 
effectual  mode  of  destroying  the  rights  of  members  in  any  deliberative  assem 
bly.  It  is  usual,  when  it  is  intended  to  prevent  a  member  from  proceeding 
with  a  motion,  to  rise  to  order,  and  a  requisition  is  then  made  by  the  moderator 
that  the  member  take  his  seat.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  court  that  Dr.  Mason 
had  the  right  to  make  his  motion  before  the  appointment  of  the  committee  on 
elections.  Indeed,  I  know  of  no  other  mode  of  getting  this  question  before 
the  committee  on  elections,  except  by  bringing  it  before  the  house,  who  might 
either  decide  it  for  themselves,  or,  if  they  thought  proper,  refer  it  to  that  com 
mittee,  in  whose  report  it  would  again  come  before  the  house.  In  this  point, 
I  wish  you  distinctly  to  understand,  that  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  court,  and  that 
I  so  instruct  you,  that  if  you  believe  that  the  conduct  of  the  moderator  and 
clerks  was  the  result  of  a  preconcerted  plan  with  a  portion  of  the  members, 
to  carry  out  the  unconstitutional  and  void  Act  of  1837,  which  deprived  the 
members  from,  certain  Presbyteries  of  seats  in  the  Assembly,  then,  in  this 
particular,  the  requisitions  of  the  law  have  been  substantially  complied  with. 

"  The  fact  that  Mr.  Cleveland  put  the  question  instead  of  the  moderator, 
the  cries  of  order  when  this  was  in  progress,  the  omission  of  some  of  the 
formulas  usually  observed  when  there  is  no  contest  and  no  excitement,  such  as 
standing  in  the  aisle,  instead  of  taking  the  chair  occupied  by  the  moderator, 
not  using  the  usual  insignia  of  office,  putting  the  question  in  an  unusual  place, 
and  the  short  time  consumed  in  the  organization  of  the  house,  and  three  or 
more  members  standing  at  the  same  time,  will  not  vitiate  the  organization,  if 
you  should  be  of  the  opinion  that  this  became  necessary  from  the  illegal  and 
improper  conduct  of  the  adverse  party. 

"  It  is  a  singular  point,  gentlemen,  that  this  part  of  the  respondents'  case 
rests  upon  standing  rules  which  were  not  then  in  existence.  You  will  recol 
lect,  that  each  Assembly  adopted  its  own  rules ;  indeed,  both  the  relators  and 
respondents  have  appealed  to  these  rules.  I  will  remark,  that  the  roll  of  mem 
bers  reported  by  Mr.  Krebs  and  Dr.  McDowell,  was  the  roll  of  the  house.  As 
such,  it  was  virtually  in  the  possession  of  the  clerks  afterwards  chosen,  pro 
vided  they  were  regularly  and  duly  elected.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  court,  that 
the  existence  of  a  house  competent  to  perform  all  the  functions  of  a  General 
Assembly,  does  not  depend  on  the  observance  or  non-observance  of  the  stand 
ing  order  of  the  house.  You,  however,  must  take  this  opinion  with  the  qualifi 
cation  that  you  believe  that  the  house  had  been  substantially  organized  for  the 
transaction  of  business ;  that  you  should  believe  that  the  deviation  from  the 
accustomed  course  was  the  necessary  result  of  a  preconcerted  plan  unconsti 
tutionally  to  exclude  the  members  from  the  exscinded  Presbyteries  from  their 
seats  in  the  Assembly.  And  here,  gentlemen,  let  me  request  your  particular 
attention  to  the  point  in  issue.  The  relators  say  that  they  are  trustees  regu 
larly  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In 
other  words,  they  affirm  that  the  house  which  assembled  in  the  lecture-room  o£ 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  was  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian. 
Church.  This  is  an  affirmative  proposition,  which  the  relators  are  bound  to 
support. 

35 


546  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

"  The  question  is  not  which  is  the  General  Assembly,  but  whether  they  are 
the  General  Assembly,  and  as  such  had  a  right  to  elect  the  relators  trustees. 
This  allegation  the  relators  must  sustain  to  your  satisfaction,  otherwise  your 
verdict  must  be  in  favor  of  the  respondents. 

u  The  respondents  strenuously  deny  that  the  portion  of  brethren  who 
assembled  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  are  the  General  Assembly.  On 
this  point,  both  parties,  the  relators  and  respondents,  have  put  themselves 
upon  the  country,  and  you,  gentlemen,  are  that  country. 

u  Let  me  now  briefly  call  your  attention  to  the  relators'  case.  The  moderator, 
Dr.  Elliott,  proceeded  to  organize  the  house.  The  clerks,  Mr.  Krebs  and  Dr. 
McDowell,  reported  to  the  house  the  roll  of  members,  omitting  those  who  were 
not  entitled  to  seats.  Dr.  Patton  offered  a  resolution  on  the  formation  of  the 
roll.  This  motion  was  declared  by  the  moderator  to  be  out  of  order.  Dr. 
Mason  then  moved  that  the  names  of  the  members  from  the  Presbyteries 
within  the  exscinded  Synods  should  be  added  to  the  roll.  This  motion  was 
declared  by  the  moderator  to  be  out  of  order.  An  appeal  from  the  decision 
was  demanded,  which  was  also  declared  to  be  out  of  order.  On  motion  of  Mr. 
Cleveland,  the  former  moderator  was  deposed  for  sufficient  cause,  and  Dr. 
Beman  was  elected  moderator,  and  Mr.  Gilbert  and  Dr.  Mason  were  elected 
clerks.  After  organization,  Dr.  Fisher  was  elected  moderator,  and  Mr.  Gilbert 
and  Dr.  Mason  elected  clerks  for  the  Assembly.  The  Assembly  being  thus 
organized  by  the  appointment  of  officers,  adjourned  to  meet  forthwith  at  the 
lecture-room  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  accordingly  met  in  pursu 
ance  of  the  adjournment,  and  on  the  24th  of  May,  183S,  in  due  form,  elected 
the  relators  trustees.  This,  gentlemen,  is  a  summary  of  the  plaintiffs'  case ; 
and  if  the  facts  are  as  stated,  your  verdict  should  be  rendered  in  favor  of  the 
relators. 

"  The  respondents  deny  that  the  portion  of  brethren  who  assembled  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  are  the  General  Assembly. 

"  Their  objection,  in  addition  to  the  points  which  have  been  already  stated, 
is  that  there  was  not  a  full  and  free  expression  of  the  opinion  of  the  house. 

"  They  allege  that  the  various  motions  for  the  appointment  of  moderator 
and  clerks,  and  for  the  adjournment,  were  not  carried  by  a  majority  of  the 
house. 

'•'  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  observe  that  spectators  had  no  right  to  vote,  nor 
had  members  not  enrolled  by  the  clerks,  although  entitled  to  seats,  a  ri^ht  to 
vote.  But  notwithstanding  this,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  court,  that  if  after 
deducting  those  who  voted  and  were  not  entitled  to  vote,  there  was  a  clear 
majority  in  favor  of  several  motions,  irregularity,  or,  if  you  please,  something 
worse,  would  not  vitiate  the  organization.  The  presumption  is,  that  none  but 
qualified  persons  voted ;  but  there  is  a  proof  that  some  voted  who  were  not 
enrolled,  yet  this  itself  will  not  destroy  the  relators'  right  of  action.  You, 
gentlemen,  will,  in  the  first  place,  inquire  whether  there  was  a  majority  of 
affirmative  voices  of  members  entitled  to  vote. 

il  If  there  was  not,  there  is  an  end  of  the  question,  and  your  verdict  must 
be  in  favor  of  the  respondents. 

"  But  if  there  was  a  majority,  you  will  further  inquire  whether  the  questions 
on  the  several  motions  were  reversed. 

"  If  they  were  not  reversed,  your  verdict  must  be  in  favor  of  the  respondents, 
for  in  that  case  it  is  very  clear  the  members  had  no  opportunity  of  showing 
their  dissent  to  several  motions  or  propositions  which  were  submitted  to  them. 

"  These,  gentlemen,  are  questions  of  fact  for  your  decision.  I  will  content 
myself  with  referring  to  the  evidence  and  arguments  of  the  counsel,  and  at  the 
same  time  observing  to  you  that  it  is  your  duty  to  reconcile  the  testimony  of 


CHARGE   OF   THE    COURT.  547 

the  case,  and  with  one  other  observation,  that  affirmative  testimony  is  more  to 
be  relied  on  than  negative  testimony. 

"  And  here,  gentlemen,  I  wish  you  distinctly  to  understand  that  it  is  the  ma 
jority  of  those  who  were  entitled  to  vote,  and  who  actually  voted,  that  is  to  be 
counted  on  the  various  questions  which  were  submitted  to  the  house.  I  wish 
you  also  to  understand  that  it  is  the  majority  of  members  that  had  been  enrolled 
that  must  determine  this  question.  When  there  is  a  quorum  of  members 
present,  the  moderator  can  only  notice  those  who  actually  vote,  and  not  those 
who  do  not  choose  to  exercise  their  privilege  of  voting.  '  Whenever,'  says  Lord 
Mansfield,  '  electors  are  present  and  don't  vote  at  al;,  they  virtually  acquiesce 
in  the  decision  of  those  that  do.' 

"  And  with  this  principle  agrees  one  of  the  rules  of  the  General  Assembly 
itself,  which  must  be  familiar  to  every  member. 

"  Members  (30th  rule)  ought  not,  without  weighty  reasons,  to  decline  voting, 
as  this  practice  might  leave  the  decision  of  very  interesting  questions  to  a  small 
portion  of  the  judicatory.  Silent  members,  unless  excused  from  voting,  must 
be  considered  as  acquiescing  with  the  majority. 

"  This  is  not  only  the  doctrine  of  the  common  law,  of  the  written  law  as  you 
have  seen,  but  it  is  the  doctrine  of  common  sense,  for  without  the  benefit  of 
this  rule,  it  would  be  almost  impossible,  certainly  very  inconvenient,  to  transact 
business  in  a  large  deliberative  assembly. 

"  Of  this  rule,  gentlemen,  we  have  had  very  lately  a  most  memorable 
instance.  The  fundamental  principles  of  your  government  have  been  altered; 
a  new  Constitution  has  been  established  by  a  plurality  of  votes  ;  forty  thousand 
electors,  who  deposited  their  votes  for  one,  or  other,  of  the  candidates  for 
governor,  did  not  cast  them  at  all  on  that  most  interesting  and  important  of  all 
questions.  But  notwithstanding  this  the  amended  Constitution  has  been  pro 
claimed  by  your  executive,  and  recognized  by  your  legislature,  and  by  the 
people,  as  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  This,  gentlemen,  has  been  stigmatized 
as  a  technical  rule  of  law,  a  fiction  and  intendment  in  law.  It  is  sufficient  for 
us,  gentlemen,  that  it  is  a  rule  of  law.  We  must  not  be  wiser  than  the  law  5 
for  if  we  attempt  this,  we  endanger  everything  we  hold  dear, — our  life,  our 
liberty,  our  property. 

"  Nor,  gentlemen,  can  we  know  anything  of  any  fancied  equity  as  contra 
distinguished  from  the  law.  The  law  is  the  equity  of  the  case,  and  it  must  be 
so  considered  under  the  most  awful  responsibility,  by  this  court,  and  this  jury. 
In  my  opinion,  a  court  and  jury  can  never  be  better  employed  than  when  they 
are  vindicating  the  safe  and  salutary  principles  of  common  law. 

i!  But  the  respondents  further  object  that  the  design  of  the  New  School 
brethren  was  not  to  organize  a  General  Assembly  according  to  the  forms  pre 
scribed  by  the  Constitution,  but  that  they  intended,  and  it  was  so  understood 
by  them,  to  effect  an  ex  parte  organization,  with  a  view  to  a  peaceable  separa 
tion  of  the  Church.  If  this  was  the  intention,  and  was  so  understood  at  the 
time,  the  house  which  assembled  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  cannot  be 
recognized  as  the  General  Assembly,  competent  to  appoint  trustees  under  the 
charter.  Having  chosen  voluntarily  to  leave  the  Church,  they  can  no  longer 
be  permitted  to  participate  in  its  advantages  and  privileges.  If  a  member,  or 
a  number  of  individuals  choose  to  abandon  their  Church,  they  must  at  the  same 
time  be  content  to  relinquish  all  its  benefits. 

"  But  this  is  a  question  of  fact,  which  you  must  decide.  In  this  part  of  the 
case,  the  burden  of  proof  is  thrown  upon  the  respondents.  They  must  satisfy 
you  that  such  was  the  intention  of  the  New  School  party  in  organizing  the 
house  and  adjourning  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  But,  granting  that 
the  motion  of  Mr.  Cleveland  was  in  order  j  that  Drs.  Beman  and  Fisher,  and 


548  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

the  clerks,  had  a  majority  of  votes;  that  the  intention  was  to  organize  the 
General  Assembly,  and  that  they  did  not  intend  an  ex  parte  organization ;  the 
respondents  say  that  such  was  the  precipitation  and  haste  of  these  proceed 
ings,  their  extraordinary  and  novel  character,  the  noise,  tumult,  and  confusion, 
that  they  and  the  other  members  of  the  house  had  no  opportunity  of  hearing 
and  voting,  if  they  had  wished  to  do  so,  and  that  therefore  this  is  an  attempt 
at  organization,  which  is  null  and  void. 

"It  is  very  certain,  that  if  individual  members  of  a  deliberative  assembly, 
by  trick  or  artifice,  by  surprise,  noise,  tumult,  or  confusion,  carry  such  a  ques 
tion  as  this,  it  ought  not,  it  cannot  be  regarded.  The  members  must  have  an 
opportunity  to  debate,  to  vote,  if  they  desire  it;  and  for  this  reason  it  is,  the 
negative  question  must  be  put,  and  that  the  several  questions  must  be  reversed. 

"  It  will  be  for  you  to  say  whether  the  members  had  this  opportunity.  To 
this  part  of  the  case  I  request  your  particular  attention. 

"  If  you  believe  that  the  several  motions  were  made  and  reversed,  that  they 
were  carried  by  a  majority  of  affirmative  voices,  whatever  maybe  your  opinion 
of  the  relative  strength  of  two  parties  in  the  Assembly,  your  verdict  must  be 
for  the  relators.  I  hold  it  to  be  a  most  clear  proposition,  that  silent  members 
acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  the  majority.  It  is  of  no  sort  of  consequence  for 
what  reason  they  were  silent ;  whether  from  a  previous  determination  or  other 
wise.  The  effect  is  the  same,  provided  they  had  an  opportunity  of  hearing 
and  voting  on  the  question.  It  is  not  necessary  that  all  should  hear  or  vote. 

"  If  persons  who  are  members  of  an  assembly,  by  surprise,  by  noise,  or  vio 
lence,  carry  such  a  question,  such  a  vote  cannot  be  considered  as  the  delibe 
rate  sense  of  the  Assembly;  but  when  the  members  are  aware  of  the  nature  of 
the  proceedings,  and  choose  to  treat  them  with  contempt,  or  to  interrupt  the 
business  themselves  by  stamping,  noise,  talking,  cries  of  order,  shame  !  shame! 
or  requesting  silence  with  a  view  to  interruption,  or  attending  to  other  busi 
ness  when  they  ought  to  be  attending  to  this,  they  cannot  be  permitted  after 
wards  to  allege  that  they  had  no  opportunity  to  vote.  They  cannot  take  ad 
vantage  of  their  own  wrong,  or  their  own  folly.  In  such  a  case,  their  silence, 
or,  if  you  choose,  noise,  shall  be  viewed  as  an  acquiescence  in  the  vote  of  the 
majority.  But  when  members  are  prevented  from  hearing  and  understanding 
the  question  by  the  noise  and  confusion,  or  by  the  indecent  haste  with  which 
the  business  is  conducted,  the  organization  is  not  such  as  can  give  it  any  legal 
validity.  It  is  of  no  consequence  whether  the  members  are  prevented  from 
voting  understandingly  on  the  question  by  the  persons  engaged  in  conducting 
the  business,  or  by  the  spectators.  But  when  it  comes  from  the  members  of 
the  other  party,  they  shall  not  be  permitted  to  object,  when  they  themselves 
are  the  causes  of  the  difficulty. 

"If  the  facts  be  so,  they  (the  members  of  the  Old  School)  did  not  hear,  be 
cause  they  would  not  hear.  They  caused*  the  disorder,  and  let  them  reap  the 
bitter  fruits  of  their  injustice.  The  court  and  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
have  nothing  to  do  with  consequences,  with  fancied  majorities  and  minorities, 
but  with  majorities  legally  ascertained.  We  are  placed  at  this  bar  under  an 
awful  responsibility  to  do  justice,  without  regard  to  the  numerical  strength  of 
the  contending  parties. 

"  If  you,  gentlemen,  believe  that  the  questions  were  not  reversed,  that  they 
were  not  carried,  that  the  members  of  the  Assembly  had  not  an  opportunity  of 
hearing  and  voting  upon  them,  your  verdict  should  be  in  favor  of  the  respon 
dents.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  you  believe  they  intended  to  organize  the 
Assembly ;  that  the  questions  were  severally  put ;  that  the  noise,  tumult,  and 
confusion  which  prevailed  in  the  Assembly  were  the  result  of  a  preconcerted 
plan  or  combination,  or  conspiracy  between  the  clerks,  the  moderator,  and  the 
members  of  the  Old  School  party,  to  sustain  the  unconstitutional  and  void 


DECLARATION    OF   THE    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  549 

resolutions  of  1837,  which  deprived  members  of  seats  to  which  they  were  justly 
entitled,  your  verdict  should  be  in  favor  of  the  relators. 

"  And  here  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  having  expressed,  or  even  in 
timated,  an  opinion  as  to  the  facts  of  the  case.  The  facts  are  for  you,  the  law 
is  for  the  court. 

"And  now,  gentlemen,  I  intreat  you,  as  you  shall  answer  to  God  at  the 
great  day,  that  you  discard  from  your  minds  all  partiality,  if  any  you  have, 
fear,  favor,  and  affection  ;  that  you  decide  this  interesting  cause  according  to 
the  evidence;  and  that  you  remember  that  the  law  is  part  of  your  evidence. 

"  [After  the  delivery  of  the  charge,  the  jury  retired,  arid  in  about  an  hour 
returned  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiffs.]" — Minutes,  1839,  pp.  40-56. 

[The  decision  of  the  court  in  bane  granting  a  new  trial,  with  other  decisions 
needful  to  an  understanding  of  the  legal  status  of  the  Assembly,  not  printed 
in  the  Minutes,  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix  at  the  close  of  the  Digest.] 


10.  u  A  Declaration  of  the  General  Assembly  ^  setting  forth  the  Present 
Position  of  our  beloved  Zion,  and  the  Causes  which  have  brought  us 
into  our  Peculiar  Condition.  1839. 

"  It  is  manifest  to  the  Christian  world,  that  a  great  and  grievous 
schism  has  taken  place  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  insomuch  that  brethren  who  used  to  walk  together  in  the 
fellowship  of  the  Gospel,  now  meet  in  separate  ecclesiastical  bodies,  and 
have  no  organic  relation  to  each  other. 

"  We,  therefore,  the  commissioners  of  that  portion  of  our  once  united 
Church,  which  was  separated  from  their  brethren  by  the  acts  of  the  As 
sembly  of  1837,  wishing  to  free  ourselves  and  our  churches  from  the 
imputation  of  the  sin  of  causing  division  and  oifences  in  the  Church  of 
the  living  God,  do  hereby  set  forth  and  declare  to  our  brethren  through 
out  the  Christian  world,  the  present  attitude  of  that  portion  of  the 
Church  which  we  represent,  and  the  causes  which  have  produced  the 
existing  difficulties. 

"  llightly  to  understand  the  present  posture  of  our  affairs,  and  pro 
perly  to  appreciate  the  causes  which  have  resulted  in  the  rending  of  the 
American  Presbyterian  Church,  it  will  be  necessary  to  take  a  retrospec 
tive  view  of  the  introduction  of  Presbyterianism  in  our  land,  and  of  its 
history  from  the  period  of  its  introduction  to  the  present  time. 

"  It  will  be  found,  upon  a  reference  to  the  history  of  bygone  days, 
that  on  the  6th  day  of  April,  1691,  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
denominations  of  Christians  in  Great  Britain  met  at  Stepney,  and  there, 
by  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God,  after  talking  over  their  differences 
and  their  agreements,  consummated  a  union  of  the  two  denominations, 
by  adopting  what  was  then  culled  the  l  Heads  of  Agreement/  em- 


550  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

bracing  a  few  cardinal  principles  which  were  to  govern  them  in  their 
fraternal  intercourse. 

"This  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  Union  sent  over  one  of  their 
number,  by  the  name  of  McKemie,  as  a  missionary  to  the  new  settle 
ments  in  America,  who,  in  connection  with  Messrs.  McNish,  Andrews, 
Hampton,  Taylor,  Wilson,  and  Davis,  in  1704,  formed  the  fiist  Presby 
tery  which  ever  existed  in  America,  by  the  name  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Philadelphia.  This  mother  Presbytery  was  formed  upon  the  liberal 
Christian  principles  which  governed  the  London  Association,  by  which 
Mr.  McKemie  was  sent  to  this  country,  and  was  composed  partly  of 
Presbyterian  and  partly  of  Congregational  ministers  and  churches.  Mr. 
Andrews,  the  first  pastor  of  the  Metropolitan  or  First  Church  in  Phila 
delphia,  was  a  decided  Congregational  Presbyterian ;  and  the  church 
over  which  he  was  placed  was  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  sixty- 
four  years,  before  they  elected  any  ruling  ciders.  This  state  of  things 
continued  until  1716,  when  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  was  formed  out 
of  the  Presbyteries  of  Philadelphia,  New  Castle,  Snow  Hill,  and  Long 
Island,  the  last  three  having  grown  up  after  the  formation  of  the  first, 
in  1704. 

"In  1730,  fourteen  years  after  the  formation  of  the  Synod  of  Phila 
delphia,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Andrews,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Prince,  says  that,  in 
the  then  existing  state  of  things,  'We  all  call  ourselves  Presbyterians, 
none  pretending  to  be  called  Congregationalists,  and  our  ministers  are 
all  Presbyterians,  though  most  of  them  are  from  New  England.' 

"During  all  this  period,  the  Church  of  Scotland,  instead  of  imbibing 
the  liberal  principles  of  the  age,  which  had  resulted  in  the  fraternal 
union  of  1691,  in  London,  and  in  the  establishing  of  a  modified  Pres- 
byterianism  in  America,  still  adhered  to  her  arbitrary  principles,  as  will 
appear  from  the  fact  that  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  in  1712,  only 
four  years  before  the  formation  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  they  so 
lemnly  bore  their  testimony  against  religious  toleration. 

"  In  1724,  those  ministers  from  Scotland  who  came  over  to  this 
country,  and  who,  in  the  language  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Miller,  {  were  de 
sirous  to  carry  into  effect  the  system  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed 
in  all  its  extent  and  strictness/  began  to  insist  that  the  entire  system 
of  the  Scottish  Church  be  received  in  this  country.  This  demand  led 
to  the  Adopting  Act  of  1729,  which  was  a  return  to  the  liberal  principles 
of  1691,  upon  which  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  was  based, 
and  is  as  follows  :  l  Although  the  Synod  do  not  claim  or  pretend  to  any 
authority  of  imposing  our  faith  on  other  men's  consciences,  but  do  pro- 


DECLARATION    OF   THE   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  551 

fess  our  just  dissatisfaction  with,  and  abhorrence  of,  such  impositions, 
and  do  not  only  disclaim  all  legislative  power  and  authority  in  the  Church, 
being  willing  to  receive  one  another  as  Christ  has  received  us  to  the 
glory  of  God,  and  admit  to  fellowship  in  Church  ordinances  all  such  as 
we  have  grounds  to  believe  that  Christ  will  at  last  admit  to  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  yet  we  are  undoubtedly  obliged  to  take  care  that  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints  be  kept  pure  and  uncorrupt  among  us,  and 
so  handed  down  to  our  posterity ;  and  do  therefore  agree,  that  all  the 
ministers  of  this  Synod,  or  that  shall  hereafter  be  admitted  to  this  Synod, 
shall  declare  their  agreement  in,  and  approbation  of  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  with  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of 
Divines  at  Westminster,  as  being  in  all  essential  and  necessary  articles, 
good  forms  and  sound  words  and  systems  of  Christian  doctrine  ;  and  do 
also  adopt  the  said  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms  as  the  confession 
of  our  faith.  And  we  do  also  agree  that  the  Presbyteries  within  our 
bounds  shall  always  take  care  not  to  admit  any  candidate  for  the  min 
istry  into  the  exercise  of  the  sacred  functions,  but  what  declares  his 
agreement  in  opinion  with  all  the  essential  and  necessary  articles  of  said 
Confession,  either  by  subscribing  the  said  Confession  of  Faith  and  Cate 
chisms,  or  by  a  verbal  declaration  of  his  assent  thereto,  as  such  minister 
or  candidate  shall  think  best.  And  in  case  any  minister  of  this  Synod, 
or  any  candidate  for  the  ministry,  shall  have  any  scruples  with  regard 
to  any  article  or  articles  of  said  Confession  of  Faith  or  Catechisms,  he 
shall,  at  the  time  of  his  making  such  declaration,  declare  his  sentiments 
to  the  Presbytery  or  Synod,  who  shall,  notwithstanding,  admit  him  to 
the  exercise  of  the  ministry  within  our  bounds,  and  to  ministerial  com 
munion,  if  either  the  Presbytery  or  Synod  shall  judge  his  scruples  or 
mistakes  to  be  only  about  articles  not  essential  and  necessary  in  doctrine, 
worship,  or  government.  But  if  the  Synod  or  Presbytery  shall  judge 
such  minister  or  candidate  erroneous  in  essential  and  necessary  articles 
of  faith,  the  Synod  or  Presbytery  shall  declare  him  incapable  of  commu 
nion  with  them.  And  the  Synod  do  solemnly  agree,  that  none  of  us 
will  traduce  or  use  any  opprobrious  terms  towards  those  who  differ  from 
us  in  those  extra  essential  and  not  necessary  points  of  doctrine,  but  treat 
them  with  the  same  friendship,  kindness,  and  brotherly  love  as  if  no 
thing  had  happened/ 

"  In  1730,  we  find  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  in  the  face  of  these 
conciliatory  measures  of  the  Synod,  adopting  the  Confession  of  Faith 
and  Catechisms,  as  being  in  all  things  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God ; 


552  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

and,  in  1732,  the  new  Presbytery  of  Donegal  followed  their  example, 
and  promised  '  forever  thereafter  to  adhere  thereto/ 

"In  1736,  that  party  who  were  in  favor  of  the  strong  measures  of 
the  Scottish  Church,  had  gained  so  much  ascendency  that  they  brought 
a  majority  of  the  Synod  to  follow  the  example  of  the  two  Presbyte 
ries  of  New  Castle  and  Donegal,  and  adopt  the  Confession,  Catechisms, 
and  Directory  of  the  Westminster  divines,  without  alteration  or  excep 
tion  ;  thus  establishing  the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate  to  control 
Synods  and  persecute  the  Church. 

"  This  rash  departure  from  the  tolerant  and  fraternal  principles  of 
1691  in  England,  and  of  1704  and  1729  in  America,  led  to  the  painful 
schism  of  1741,  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  the  Synod  of  New 
York  in  1745. 

"  In  1758,  the  Synods  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  came  together 
in  one  body,  and  took  the  name  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Phila 
delphia  ;  and  in  the  sixth  article  of  their  union,  they  agreed  to  adopt 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  and  Directory  as  they  had  been 
adopted  in  1728. 

"In  1766,  eight  years  after  the  union  of  the  Synods  under  the  name 
of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  that  body  proposed  an 
Annual  Convention  of  delegates  of  the  pastors  of  the  Congregational, 
Consociated,  and  Presbyterian  Churches  in  North  America,  which  re 
commendation  was  complied  with,  and  the  convention  was  held  annually 
for  ten  years,  when  it  was  interrupted  by  the  American  Revolution.  In 
1788,  the  General  Assembly  was  organized,  and,  in  1790,  the  Assembly, 
to  use  their  own  language,  l  being  peculiarly  desirous  to  renew  and 
strengthen  every  bond  of  union  between  brethren  so  nearly  agreed  in 
doctrine  and  forms  of  worship  as  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
Churches  evidently  are,  and  remembering  with  much  satisfaction  the 
mutual  pleasure  and  advantage  produced  and  received  by  their  former 
intercourse,  do  resolve  that  the  Congregational  Churches  in  New  England 
be  invited  to  renew  their  annual  convention  with  the  clergy  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church.7  This  resolution  resulted  in  the  plan  of  correspond 
ence  with  the  Congregational  bodies  of  New  England,  which  exists  to 
this  day.  This  plan  provides  that  i  every  preacher  travelling  from  one 
body  to  the  other,  and  properly  recommended,  shall  be  received  as  an 
authorized  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  and  cheerfully  taken  under  the  pa 
tronage  of  the  Presbytery  or  Association  within  whose  limits  he  shall  find 
employment  as  a  preacher/ 


DECLARATION    OF    THE   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  553 

"In  1801,  the  enlightened  piety  of  the  two  denominations  produced 
another  Plan  of  Union,  designed  to  promote  the  interests  of  religion  in 
our  new  settlements,  which  strictly  enjoined  on  all  their  missionaries  to 
endeavor  by  all  proper  means  to  promote  mutual  forbearance  and  accom 
modation  between  those  inhabitants  who  hold  the  Presbyterian  and  those 
who  hold  the  Congregational  form  of  government,  and  provided  a  plan 
for  establishing  a  uniform  system  of  government  among  them,  when  as 
sociated  in  the  same  church. 

"  These  Plans  of  Union  between  the  two  denominations  were  a  virtual 
recognition  of  the  benign  principles  established  in  1691,  in  England, 
and  afterwards  adopted  in  America,  and  made  the  basis  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  in  the  original  Presbytery  and  Synod  of  Philadelphia. 

"  These  fundamental  principles  continued  to  be  recognized  and  acted 
upon  by  the  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  subordinate 
judicatories,  with  few  exceptions,  until  1837,  when  a  majority  of  the 
commissioners  abrogated  the  Plan  of  Union  of  1801,  and  cut  off  from 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  4  Synods,  28  Presbyteries,  509  ministers,  599 
churches,  and  60,000  communicants,  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  whole 
denomination,  alleging  that  as  they  were  brought  into  the  Church  under 
the  Plan  of  Union  of  1801,  they  necessarily  fell  with  it. 

"  As  an  alleged  consequence  of  this  act,  they  next  proceeded  to  expel 
from  the  house  all  the  commissioners  who  were  present  from  the  Presby 
teries  composing  the  exscinded  Synods,  and  dissolved  the  Third  Presby 
tery  of  Philadelphia. 

"In  1838,  the  commissioners  from  the  exscinded  Synods  came  up  to 
the  General  Assembly,  and  offered  their  commissions  to  the  clerks,  who 
refused  to  receive  them  or  enrol  the  names  of  the  said  commissioners. 
After  the  moderator,  Rev.  David  Elliot,  D.D.,  had  taken  his  chair,  and 
the  names  of  the  enrolled  members  had  been  reported,  Rev.  Erskine 
Mason,  D.D.,  one  of  the  enrolled  members,  presented  the  commissions 
of  the  commissioners  from  the  exscinded  Presbyteries,  and  moved  that 
their  names  should  then  be  enrolled.  The  moderator  decided  that  the 
motion  was  out  of  order.  Dr.  Mason  then  appealed  to  the  house,  and 
the  moderator  refused  to  put  the  appeal.  By  this  refusal,  the  rights  of 
Dr.  Mason  and  the  rights  of  the  house  were  invaded,  and  a  question  of 
privilege,  which  takes  the  precedence  of  all  other  questions,  and  is  always 
in  order,  was  raised.  Hereupon  Rev.  John  P.  Cleveland,  another  en 
rolled  member,  moved  that  Rev.  N.  S.  S.  Beman,  D.D.,  should  be  ap 
pointed  moderator  in  the  room  of  Rev.  David  Elliot,  D.D.,  who  had  in- 


554  XII. — THE   DIVISION   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

vaded  the  rights  of  the  Assembly,  and  put  the  question  to  the  house, 
which  was  carried,  as  has  since  been  proved  in  a  civil  court,  by  a  majo 
rity  of  those  who  voted  from  the  enrolled  members.  Rev.  E.  Mason, 
D.D.,  and  Rev.  E.  W.  Gilbert  were  then  elected  clerks,  and  Dr.  Fisher 
was  chosen  moderator;  and  having  been  notified  that  they  must  leave  the 
place  where  they  were  assembled,  they  forthwith  adjourned  to  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  invited  all  the  commissioners  to  meet  with 
them. 

"  After  this  organization  of  what  we  consider  the  constitutional  As 
sembly,  the  commissioners  who  adhered  to  the  acts  of  1837  organized 
themselves  into  an  Assembly,  and  have  subsequently  taken  measures  to 
divide  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  organizing  into  separate  Synods, 
Presbyteries,  and  churches,  such  minorities  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  as  adhered  to  them,  and  when  they  had  the  majority,  casting 
out  such  minorities  as  adhered  to  this  Assembly. 

"  After  the  proceedings  of  that  portion  of  our  brethren  who  had  cast 
out  and  cut  off  the  four  Synods,  and  formed  themselves  into  an  As 
sembly,  were  published  and  known,  the  constitutional  Assembly  did,  by 
its  committee,  issue  a  quo  warranto  out  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Penn 
sylvania,  to  test  the  legality  of  the  Exscinding  Acts  of  1837,  and  of  the 
subsequent  proceedings  founded  upon  them,  and  if  possible,  to  restore 
the  unity  of  the  Church  and  secure  religious  liberty.  This  cause  was 
tried  in  March  last,  at  Philadelphia,  before  the  Hon.  Molton  C.  Rogers, 
one  of  the  justices  of  said  Supreme  Court,  when  it  was  ruled  by  the 
said  judge,  and  decided  by  the  verdict  of  an  enlightened  jury,  that  the 
Plan  of  Union  of  1801,  'was  not  only  a  regulation  which  the  General 
Assembly  had  power  to  make,  but  that  it  was  one  which  was  well  calcu 
lated  to  promote  the  best  interests  of  religion;'  and  that  the  acts  of  the 
Assembly  of  1837,  exscinding  the  four  Synods,  were  (  not  only  contrary 
to  the  eternal  principles  of  justice,  the  principles  of  common  law,  but  at 
variance  with  the  Constitution  of  the  Church  ;'  and  that  the  Assembly, 
of  which  we  are  the  successors,  was  the  constitutional  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

"  The  counsel  for  that  Assembly,  which  was  formed  after  the  consti 
tutional  one  which  we  represent,  not  satisfied  with  this  decision,  moved 
the  court  in  bane  for  a  new  trial,  and  the  said  court  in  bane,  the  Hon. 
Molton  C.  Rogers  dissenting,  and  the  Hon.  Judge  Sergeant  being 
absent,  did  award  a  new  trial,  upon  the  ground  that  the  Exscinding  Acts 
of  1837  were  legislative  and  not  judicial,  expressly  declaring  that  if 


DECLARATION    OF   THE    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  555 

they  had  been  judicial,  they  l  would  have  been  contrary  to  the  cardinal 
principles  of  natural  justice,  and  consequently  void/  The  court  in 
bane  did,  moreover,  decide  and  declare  that  the  Assembly  of  1887  '  did, 
at  first,  resolve  to  proceed  judicially,  but  that  the  measure  was  aban 
doned,  probably  because  it  came  to  be  perceived  that  the  Synods  had 
committed  no  offence/  Now  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
very  tribunal  which  granted  a  new  trial,  have  made  a  solemn  decision, 
that  the  Assembly  of  1837,  determined  at  all  events  to  get  rid  of 
60,000  of  their  brethren,  *  first  resolved  to  proceed  judicially  against 
them,  but  perceiving  that  they  had  committed  no  offence,  changed  their 
purpose,  and  by  a  legislative  act,  cut  them  off  from  the  Church,  disfran 
chised  them  of  their  privileges,  and  deprived  them  of  their  share  of  the 
property  and  funds,  which  had  been  contributed  in  part  by  themselves/ 

11  While  we  would  submit  to  the  decision  of  the  court  in  bane,  and 
recognize  it  as  the  law  of  Pennsylvania,  till  it  shall  be  reversed,  still  we 
may  lawfully  appeal  to  the  Christian  public,  as  to  the  morality  of  those 
ecclesiastical  proceedings  of  the  Assemblies  of  1837  and  1838,  which 
are  the  basis  of  such  opinion. 

"What  must  be  thought  of  Christian  ministers  and  elders,  convened 
as  a  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  who  were  so  intent 
upon  depriving  60,000  of  their  brethren  of  their  religious  privileges 
and  church  property,  that  they  did,  as  the  Supreme  Court  has  decided 
was  the  case,  first  resolve  to  proceed  judicially  against  them,  and  when 
they  perceived  that  this  would  not  answer  their  purpose,  because  they 
had  been  guilty  of  no  offence,  resolved  to  expel  them  by  a  legislative  act. 

"From  whence  did  the  Assembly  derive  this  legislative  power?  By 
the  Adopting  Act  of  1729,  which  was  made  the  basis  of  the  union  of  the 
Synods  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  in  1758,  all  legislative  powers 
are  expressly  disclaimed,  and  in  book  1,  chapter  i,  section  7,  of  the 
Form  of  Government,  as  amended  and  ratified  by  the  Assembly  of  1821, 
we  arc  told  that  the  Assembly  l  were  unanimously  of  the  opinion,  that 
all  church  power,  whether  exercised  by  the  body  in  general,  or  in  the 
way  of  representation  by  delegated  authority,  is  only  ministerial  and 
declarative/  The  General  Assembly  acts  by  delegated  authority,  and 
yet  after  a  unanimous  decision  in  their  constitutional  Form  of  Govern 
ment  in  1821,  that  their  power  is  only  ministerial  and  declarative,  in 
1837,  they,  by  what  the  court  say  can  only  be  sustained  as  a  legislative 
act,  disfranchise  60,000  of  the  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  If 
they  had  no  legislative  powers,  then,  according  to  the  decision  of  the 


556  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

court  in  bane,  as  well  as  of  Judge  Rogers  at  Nisi  Prius,  the  act  of  ex 
cision  in  1837  'was  contrary  to  the  cardinal  principles  of  natural 
justice,  and  consequently  void/ 

"But  if  we  should,  for  one  moment,  grant  what  the  whole  Presby 
terian  Church  in  1758  and  1821  especially  disclaimed,  that  the  As 
sembly  possessed  legislative  power,  could  they  either  legally  or  right 
eously  legislate  60,000  of  their  brethren  out  of  the  Church  ?  We  ask, 
in  the  language  of  Judge  Rogers,  what  would  be  thought  of  a  State 
that  should  legislate  one  of  its  members  out  of  his  elective  franchise? 
It  is  a  well-known  principle  of  law,  as  that  learned  judge  well  remarks, 
that  no  man  can  be  deprived  of  his  elective  franchise  by  a  legislative 
act,  this  being  a  power  which  can  only  be  exercised  by  a  judicial 
tribunal. 

"  But  it  is  said,  that  as  the  four  Synods  came  in  under  the  Plan  of 
Union,  they  must  fall  with  that  Plan.  If  by  the  Synods  coming  in 
under  this  Plan,  we  are  to  understand  that  they  were  organized  in  any 
different  manner  from  all  other  Synods,  the  allegation  is  not  true  j  and 
if  it  be  meant  that  they  were  formed  during  its  existence,  the  same  is 
true  of  every  Presbytery  and  Synod  formed  since  1801.  How,  then, 
would  we  ask,  are  the  Synods  or  Presbyteries  affected  by  the  Plan  of 
Union  ?  No  minister  was  ever  received  into  any  Presbytery  according 
to  any  provision  in  that  Plan,  for  it  contains  no  such  provision.  But 
it  is  alleged  by  the  exscinding  brethren  of  1837,  that  the  Plan  of  Union 
of  1801  was  unconstitutional  and  void  from  the  beginning;  but  this, 
both  Judge  Rogers  and  the  court  in  bane  declare  to  be  incorrect,  so 
that  we  have  the  anomaly  of  an  ecclesiastical  court  justifying  their  acts 
on  the  ground  that  the  Union  of  1801  was  unconstitutional,  and  a  civil 
court  sustaining  this  same  decision,  upon  the  ground  that  the  Union  was 
constitutional. 

"  But  there  is  another  important  fact  which  ought  to  be  noticed,  and 
that  is,  that  in  1821,  twenty  years  after  the  Plan  of  Union  had  been 
adopted,  a  new  and  amended  Constitution  was  framed  and  solemnly 
adopted  by  the  Presbyteries  which  have  been  exscinded,  as  well  as  their 
brethren  of  other  Presbjteries,  and  that  the  whole  Church,  after  living 
and  acting  together  for  sixteen  years  under  this  new  Constitution,  is 
rent  asunder  by  this  act  of  excision,  and  60,000  of  its  members  attempted 
to  be  cut  off  from  all  participation  in  the  privileges  of  that  Church. 

"  In  view  of  these  facts,  we,  the  General  Assembly,  convened  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  16th  day  of  May, 


ROLL   OF   THE    ASSEMBLY   RECTIFIED.  557 

1839,  appealing  to  Almighty  God  for  the  purity  of  our  motives  and 
the  rectitude  of  our  measures,  and  professing  a  deep  regret  for  this 
grievous  breach  in  the  professed  body  of  Christ,  and  solemnly  protesting 
that  the  sin  of  this  schism  does  not  lie  at  our  door,  throw  ourselves  upon 
the  candor  and  wisdom  of  the  Christian  world,  for  the  rectitude  of  our 
proceedings  in  the  painful  circumstances  in  which  we  have  been  placed. 
(Signed)  "  BAXTER  DICKINSON,  Moderator. 

"  ERSKINE  MASON,  Stated  Clerk." 
—Minutes,  1839,  pp.  56-60. 

11.   Withdrawal  of  the  Suit  at  Law. 

a.  "In  relation  to  the  case  at  law  of  the  Commonwealth  v.  Green  and 
others,  the  committee  came  deliberately  and  unanimously  to  the  result, 
on  the  15th  of  November,  1841,  to  instruct  their  counsel  to  withdraw 
the  suit,  and  thus  '  for  the  present/  and  they  hope  forever,  to  end  the 
legal  controversy." — Letter  of  the  Committee  ad  interim,  1842,  p.  19. 

b.  "Resolved,   That  this   Assembly  would   commend   the  zeal  and 
fidelity  manifested  by  the  committee  ad  interim,  in  the  novel  circum 
stances  in  which,  by  the  Providence  of  God,  they  have  been  placed; 
and  their  proceedings  are  hereby  approved. 

"  This  Assembly  further  declares,  that  the  withdrawing  the  suit 
against  Ashbel  Green  and  others,  in  the  nature  of  a  quo  warranto,  and 
the  ceasing,  for  the  present,  of  this  Assembly  to  prosecute  its  claims 
for  property  belonging  to  it,  in  law  and  in  equity,  shall  not  be  considered 
as  any  waiving  or  relinquishment  of  any  of  its  legal  and  equitable  rights 
in  and  to  any  property  which  did,  now  does,  or  hereafter  may,  belong  to 
the  trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  Ame 
rica."—  Minutes,  1843,  p.  21. 

12.    The  Roll  of  the  Assembly  rectified. 

"  The  Assembly,  on  the  motion  of  Dr.  Cox,  took  up  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church ;  which,  after  being  amended, 
was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows : 

"  Whereas,  it  appears,  by  abundant  evidence,  to  this  Assembly,  that 
another  body,  claiming  to  be  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  at  present  exists,  organized 
expressly  on  a  (  new  basis/  wholly  unknown  to  the  Constitution  of  our 


553  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE   CHURCH. 

Church,  and  now  holding  their  sessions  in  Ranstead  Court,  in  this  city; 
and, 

"  Whereas,  it  is  also  ascertained  that  a  considerable  number  of  the 
Presbyteries  formerly  in  connection  with  us  have,  within  the  space  of 
two  years,  withdrawn  in  fact  from  us,  and  are  now  in  connection  with 
the  other  body,  to  which  we  refer  above ;  and, 

"  Whereas,  in  times  so  extraordinary  and  so  distressing  to  those  who 
love  the  unity  of  the  Church,  and  stand  alone  on  the  old  basis  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  same,  rejecting  every  idea  of  any  new  basis;  the 
conduct  of  our  withdrawing  brethren  having  made  the  exigency  in  which 
we  are  under  the  necessity  of  acting  without  a  precedent  and  without  a 
parallel ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  1.  That,  having  waited  a  sufficient  time,  sincerely  desir 
ing  the  return  of  our  withdrawing  brethren  to  the  old  basis,  which  we 
have  never  deserted,  it  is  now  the  duty  of  this  Assembly  to  declare  their 
disunion,  by  their  own  act,  from  us ;  and  to  rectify  the  roll  of  the  Pres 
byteries  that  are  the  constituents  of  this  Assembly  accordingly. 

"2.  That  the  following  sixteen  Synods  be  recognized  as  constitution 
ally  remaining  with  us  on  the  old  and  the  true  basis  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  viz.  :  Albany,  Utica,  Geneva,  Genesee,  New  York,  Newark, 
Pennsylvania,  Western  Reserve,  Michigan,  Ohio,  Cincinnati,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Missouri,  Virginia,  and  Tennessee/7 — Minutes,  1840,  p.  16. 

13.   Proposal  to  Unite  in  the  Communion. 

a.  "  Rev.  A.  W.  Campbell  moved  that  the  Committee  on  Devotional 
Exercises  be  authorized  to  confer  with  a  similar  committee  of  the  Gene 
ral  Assembly,  meeting  in  the  Tenth  Presbyterian  Church  of  this  city, 
in  reference  to  a  united  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

"The  motion  was  carried  unanimously." — Minutes,  1846,  p.  11. 

The  Result. 

b.  "  The  Committee  on  Devotional  Exercises  presented  a  report  as  to 
the  result  of  a  conference  with  a  similar  committee  of  the  other  Assem 
bly,  in  reference  to  a  united  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  which 
was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  Committee  on  Devotional  Exercises,  to  whom  was  referred  the 
resolution  authorizing  them  to  confer  with  a  similar  committee  of  the 
Assembly  meeting  in  the  Tenth  Presbyterian  Church,  in  reference  to  a 
united  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  report : 


PROPOSAL   TO   UNITE   IN   THE   COMMUNION.  559 

"That  they  presented  to  the  committee  of  the  Annual  Assembly  a 
certified  copy  of  the  resolution  passed  by  this  body,  accompanied  by  the 
following  letter,  addressed  to  the  chairman  of  said  committee  : 

"  DEAR  BROTHER  :  It  devolves  upon  us,  as  chairman  and  secretary 
of  the  Committee  on  Devotional  Exercises  of  the  Triennial  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  convened  in  the  First  Presby 
terian  Church  in  this  city,  to  present  for  your  consideration  the  above 
resolution. 

"  Should  the  foregoing  proposal  meet  the  approval  of  yourself  and  of 
your  Assembly,  it  would  afford  us  great  pleasure,  as  a  committee,  to  con 
fer  with  you  at  such  time  and  place  as  you  may  designate. 

"  Wishing  you,  and  the  Assembly  with  whom  you  are  associated, 
grace,  mercy,  and  peace  from  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  are  yours, 
affectionately^ 

"  ALFRED  E.  CAMPBELL,  Chairman, 
"  CHARLES  H.  READ,  Secretary. 

"  To  our  proposal  we  have  received  the  following  answer,  through  the 
Rev.  Daniel  Baker,  one  of  the  Committee  on  Devotional  Exercises  : 

"  Extract  from  the  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  session  at 
Philadelphia,  May  28th,  1846. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  were  referred  the  papers  relating  to  the 
joint  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  by  the  two  Assembles,  with  in 
structions  to  bring  in  a  minute  expressive  of  the  views  of  the  Assembly, 
presented  a  report,  which  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz.  : 

"The  Committee  on  Devotional  Exercises,  having  reported  to  the 
General  Assembly  a  communication  from  a  similar  committee  of  the 
General  Assembly  in  session  at  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  repre 
senting  that  the  said  Assembly  has  authorized  its  committee  to  confer 
with  the  committee  of  this  Assembly  in  relation  to  a  joint  celebration 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  by  the  two  bodies ;  it  was  ordered,  that  the  com 
mittee  respectfully  acknowledge  and  reciprocate  the  courtesy  of  the  com 
munication,  and  say  in  reply,  that,  while  this  Assembly  recognize  the 
above-mentioned  body  as  a  branch  of  the  Church  of  our  common  Lord, 
and  for  this  reason  would,  as  individuals,  under  appropriate  circum 
stances,  unite  with  our  brethren  in  the  celebration  of  divine  ordinances, 
yet,  as  this  Assembly  has  never,  in  its  corporate  and  official  capacity, 
united  with  any  other  ecclesiastical  body  in  celebrating  the  Lord's  Sup 
per,  it  judges  it  inexpedient  to  institute  a  new  usage  at  this  time. 


560  XII. — THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"  On  motion,  the  Committee  on  Devotional  Exercises  were  directed 
to  communicate  a  copy  of  the  above  minute  to  the  committee  of  the 
other  Assembly. 

"  Attest,  WILLIS  LORD, 

11  Stated  Cleric  of  the  General  Asseinbli/. 

(<  We  can  only  regret  that  the  proposal,  made  in  the  most  fraternal 
manner,  and  passed  by  a  unanimous  vote,  did  not  meet  with  a  cordial 
response  in  the  other  Assembly.  We  have  long  seen  that  while  the  two 
Assemblies  were  holding  correspondence  with  many  of  the  same  eccle 
siastical  bodies,  and  in  their  respective  Synods  and  Presbyteries  main 
taining  the  usual  courtesies  of  correspondence,  and  freely  exchanging 
pulpits  with  each  other,  nothing  has  been  done,  in  our  official  capacity, 
to  show  the  world  that  we  recognized  each  other  as  brethren.  And  as 
the  world  had  seen  the  jarring  and  contention  that  existed  in  former 
years  between  the  two  Assemblies,  it  seemed  to  be  demanded  from  both 
to  manifest,  by  some  public  act,  like  that  of  the  united  celebration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  that,  though  we  were  separated,  we  were  one  in 
Christ,  and  would  love  and  treat  each  other  as  brethren  j  and,  though 
we  are  the  injured  party,  our  motives  and  our  ministerial  character 
having  been  impeached,  and  some  of  us  belonging  to  Presbyteries  and 
churches  which  were  exscinded  by  the  acts  of  1837,  still  it  was  our 
earnest  wish  to  extend  to  them  the  hand  of  Christian  charity — to  forgive 
and  forget,  as  we  pray  to  be  forgiven  of  our  God. 

"  It  is,  therefore,  to  us  a  source  of  deep  regret,  that  our  brethren  of 
the  other  Assembly  did  not  manifest  a  disposition  to  unite  with  us,  and 
by  their  influence  and  example,  aid  us  in  doing  away  the  reproach  and 
the  odium  which  have  been  heaped  upon  the  Presbyterian  Church.  But 
though  we  may  not,  as  an  Assembly,  under  existing  circumstances,  unite 
with  our  brethren  of  the  other  Assembly  in  a  joint  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  still,  it  is  our  sincere  prayer  that  we  may  meet  with  them 
in  the  General  Assembly  and  Church  of  the  First  Born  in  Heaven,  and 
sit  down  with  them  at  the  Marriage  Supper  of  the  Lamb." — Minutes, 
1846,  pp.  21,  22. 

14.   Commit  fee  of  Correspondence  Appointed. 

a.  tf  The  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures  reported  an  overture  in 
these  words : 

"  Resolved,  That  a  proposal  be  made  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  now  holding  its  sessions  in  the  city  of  Pittsburg, 


ft  t' 

EFFORTS   FOR  A   HARMONIOUS   UNDERSTANDING. 

to  institute  fraternal  correspondence  by  the  interchange  of  delegat 
Minutes,  1849,  p.  174. 

"  The  unfinished  business  of  yesterday,  viz.,  the  indefinite  postponement 
of  the  notice  to  send  delegates  to  the  Assembly  at  Pittsburg,  was  resumed. 

"  The  motion  to  postpone  was  lost. 

"  The  Rev.  G.  R.  H.  Shumway  then  moved  to  refer  the  whole  subject 
to  a  special  committee  of  five,  to  report  to  the  next  General  Assembly, 
which  was  carried,  and  Rev.  Thomas  Brainerd,  D.D.,  Rev.  James  G. 
Hamner,  D.D.,  Rev.  Henry  G.  Ludlow,  and  Messrs.  Ambrose  White 
and  Frederick  A.  Raybold  were  appointed." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  175. 

The  Result. 

b.  "A  letter  was  received  from  the  Rev.  Thomas  Brainerd,  D.D., 
chairman  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  last  Assembly,  to  correspond 
with  a  committee  of  the  other  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  if  such  should  be  appointed,  stating  that  'as  no  corresponding 
committee  was  appointed  by  our  brethren  of  the  Assembly  which  met 
in  Pittsburg  last  year,  no  opportunity  has  been  had  to  carry  out  the 
fraternal  and  Christian  spirit  of  our  Assembly. 

"  The  committee  were  thereupon  discharged." — Minutes,  1850,  p.  306. 

15.   Detail  of  our  Efforts  for  a  Harmonious  Understanding. 

"  A  communication  was  received,  and  read,  from  the  Presbytery  of 
Rochester,  in  reference  to  a  reunion  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church."  [It  was  referred  to  a  committee  (Minutes,  1850,  p.  310), 
who  report,  viz.  :] 

"  Rev.  E.  Mason,  D.D.,  from  the  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the 
subject  of  correspondence  with  the  other  General  Assembly,  made  a  report, 
which,  after  being  amended,  was  unanimously  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  subject  of  the  letter  from 
the  Presbytery  of  Rochester,  report, 

"That  this  Assembly  has  always  deplored,  and  continues  to  deplore, 
the  unhappy  division  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as  well  as  the  causes 
which  produced  it.  For  this  sundering  of  the  body  of  Christ  they  do 
not  feel  themselves  at  all  responsible,  as,  in  everything  they  have  done, 
they  have  stood  upon  the  defensive,  to  protect  their  dearest  rights,  secured 
to  them  under  the  Constitution  of  the  Church. 

"  They  have  always,  moreover,  been  ready  to  meet  their  brethren  in 

36 


562  XII. — THE   DIVISION    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

any  plan  consistent  with  principle,  to  heal  the  breach,  and  restore  the 
Church  to  its  former  integrity;  and  have  even  taken  the  first  step  towards 
such  a  result. 

"  Feeling  that  a  separation  between  brethren  of  a  common  faith,  com 
mon  sympathies,  and  a  common  creed,  could  not  be  without  sin,  they 
did,  immediately  after  the  separation  in  1838  (see  Minutes,  p.  634), 
publish  to  the  world  their  willingness  to  l  agree  to  any  reasonable 
measures  tending  to  an  amicable  adjustment  of  the  difficulties  existing 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church.' 

u  In  1839,  to  avert  all  unpleasant  controversy,  and  prevent  all  un 
happy  litigation,  they  proposed  a  plan  of  amicable  settlement,  designed 
only  to  secure  our  constitutional  privileges  as  Presbyterians,  while 
it  relinquished  to  our  brethren  of  the  other  body  all  the  chartered  rights, 
institutions,  and  funds  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  (See  Minutes  of 
1839,  p.  21.) 

"The  idea  of  an  amicable  settlement,  and  even  of  reunion,  was 
cherished  for  some  time  by  this  body  ;  and  it  was  not  until  1840,  three 
years  after  the  separation,  that  they  relinquished  it ;  and  coming  reluc 
tantly  to  the  conclusion  that  union  was  impracticable,  they  corrected  their 
roll,  and  dropped  from  it  the  names  of  these  brethren,  in  deference  to 
their  feelings.  (See  Minutes  of  1840,  p.  16.) 

" Again,  in  1846,  they  expressed  the  desire  for  union  with  their 
brethren  •  and,  pained  by  the  unseemly  exhibition  of  two  such  bodies  at 
apparent  strife  with  each  other,  they  proposed  to  their  brethren  of  the 
other  Assembly,  a  mutual  recognition  of  each  other,  by  communing 
together  at  the  Table  of  our  Master. 

O 

"  These  propositions  and  overtures  were  all  made  in  good  faith,  and 
with  an  earnest  desire  and  hope  that  they  might  be  met  in  the  spirit 
which  prompted  them. 

"  The  result  is  a  matter  of  history,  and  is  now  before  the  world.  We 
do  not  pretend  to  question  the  motives  of  our  brethren  in  rejecting 
them  ;  we  yield  to  them  what  we  claim  for  ourselves,  honesty  of  purpose, 
and  sincere  convictions  of  duty.  We  stated  only  the  facts,  and  do  so, 
to  show  that  we  cannot,  as  a  body,  at  the  present  time,  take  any  farther 
action  in  this  matter. 

"  While  we  are  constrained  to  come  to  this  conclusion,  we  should  be 
untrue  to  ourselves  before  God  and  the  world,  did  we  not  frankly  avow 
our  readiness  to  meet  in  a  spirit  of  fraternal  kindness  and  Christian  love 
any  overture  which  may  be  made  to  us  by  the  other  body." — Minutes, 
1850,  pp.  322,  323. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 
SECTION  1. — SECESSION  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  CHURCHES. 


1.  The  protest  against  the  action  of  the  Assembly  at  Cleveland,  and  the  answer. — 
2.  Withdrawal  of  the  Synods  of  Missouri,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  West 
Tennessee,  and  Mississippi.  Claims  of  the  United  Synod. — 3.  Report  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  on  these  claims. — 4.  Adjustment  of  the 
roll.  The  Synods  of  Mississippi,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  West  Tennessee 
stricken  from  the  roll. — 5.  The  Synod  of  Virginia  stricken  from  the  roll,  and 
the  bounds  of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  enlarged. 


1.  Protest  against  the  Action  of  the  Assembly  at  Cleveland. 

[In  1857,  the  General  Assembly,  in  sessions  at  Cleveland,  adopted  a 
paper  on  slavery  (see  ante,  pp.  291-295),  to  which  the  following  protest 
was  offered,  and  ordered  to  be  put  upon  the  Minutes,  viz.  :] 

"  We,  the  undersigned  Southern  ministers  and  ruling  elders,  protest 
against  the  present  decision  of  the  General  Assembly. 

"  We  protest,  because,  while  past  General  Assemblies  have  asserted 
that  the  system  of  slavery  is  wrong,  they  have  heretofore  affirmed,  that 
the  slaveholder  was  so  controlled  by  State  laws,  obligations  of  guardian 
ship  and  humanity,  that  he  was,  as  thus  situated,  without  censure  or 
odium  as  the  master.  This  averment  in  the  testimony  of  past  Assemblies 
has  so  far  satisfied  the  South,  as  to  make  it  unnecessary  to  do  more  than 
protest  against  the  mere  anti-slavery  part  of  such  testimony. 

"  We  protest  then,  now,  that  the  present  act  of  the  Assembly  is  such 
an  assertion  of  the  sin  of  slavery,  as  degrades  the  whole  Southern 


564  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

Church, — an  assertion  without  authority  from  the  word  of  God,  or  the 
organic  law  of  the  Presbyterian  body. 

"  We  protest,  that  such  action  is,  under  present  conditions,  the  virtual 
exscinding  of  the  South,  whatever  be  the  motives  of  those  who  vote  the 
deed. 

"  We  protest,  that  such  indirect  excision  is  unrighteous,  oppressive, 
uncalled  for, — the  exercise  of  usurped  power, — destructive  of  the  unity 
of  our  branch  of  the  Church, — hurtful  to  the  North  and  the  South, — 
and  adding  to  the  peril  of  the  union  of  these  United  States. 

"FRED.  A.  Ross,  ROBT.  P.  RHEA, 

"JAS.  G.  HAMNER,  F.  R.  GRAY, 

"ISAAC  W.  K.  HANDY,  M.  S.  SHUCK, 

"  GIDEON  S.  WHITE,  W.  E.  CALDWELL, 

"  GEORGE  W.  HUTCHINS,  E.  A.  CARSON, 

"GEORGE  PAINTER,  R.  M.  MORRISON, 

"  HENRY  MATIIEWS,  ROBERT  McLAiN, 

"JOHN  F.  CHESTER,  A.  J.  MODIE, 

"J.  V.  BARKS,  PEACHY  R.  GRATTAN, 

"J.  B.  LOGAN,  THOMAS  H.  CLELAND, 

"  C.  M.  ATKINSON,  ARCHER  C.  DICKERSON." 
— Minutes,  1857,  p.  406. 

[To  this  protest  the  Assembly  record  the  following  answer :] 

"  In  reply  to  the  protest  against  the  action  taken  by  the  Assembly  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  the  Assembly  make  the  following  remarks  : 

"1.  The  present  action  of  the  Assembly  on  this  subject  is  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  testimonies  of  former  Assemblies,  and  consists  chiefly 
in  a  reaffirmation  of  those  testimonies.  The  General  Assembly  has 
never  '  affirmed  that  the  slaveholder  was  so  controlled  by  State  laws, 
obligations  of  guardianship  and  humanity,  that  he  was,  as  thus  situated, 
without  censure  or  odium  as  the  master.'  It  has  only  conceded,  that 
certain  exceptional  cases  may  exist,  such  as  are  defined  in  the  resolutions 
of  the  Assembly  of  1850,  and  approved  by  this  Assembly. 

"  2.  We  see  nothing  in  the  present  action  which  is  unconstitutional, 
or  which  <  degrades/  or  even  reflects  upon,  any  portion  of  the  Southern 
Church,  which  still  abides  by  the  old  doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  relation  to  this  subject. 

"  3.  With  respect  to  the  complaint,  l  that  such  action  is,  under  present 
conditions,  the  virtual  exscinding  of  the  South/  the  Assembly  observe, 


SECESSION   OF   THE   SOUTHERN    CHURCHES.  565 

that  no  such  excision  is  intended,  and  we  cannot  perceive  that  it  is  in 
anywise  involved  even  by  remote  implication.  We  have  simply  re 
affirmed  the  established  views  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  and  distinctly  condemned  the  new  and  counter  doctrines 
which  have  been  declared  and  defended  by  some  within  our  bounds. 

"4.  With  regard  to  the  allegation,  that  our  action  in  this  case  is 
{ unrighteous,  oppressive,  uncalled  for/  usurpatory,  and  destructive  of 
great  interests,  we  need  only  say,  that  it  rests  on  the  groundless  assump 
tion,  that  this  action  is  an  '  indirect  excision'  of  the  South.  If  our 
Southern  brethren  shall  break  the  unity  of  the  Church,  because  we  stand 
by  our  former  position,  as  in  duty  bound,  the  responsibility  for  the  con 
sequences  will  not  rest  on  the  Assembly." — Minutes,  1857,  pp.  408, 409. 

2.    Withdrawal  of  the  Synods.     Claims  of  the  United  Synod. 

[In  the  Assembly  of  1858,  the  Synods  of  Missouri,  Virginia,  Ken 
tucky,  Tennessee,  West  Tennessee,  and  Mississippi  were  not  repre 
sented, — "The  United  Synod"  having  been  formed  in  the  meantime  by 
portions  of  each  of  these  Synods ;  no  notice,  however,  of  withdrawal 
was  given  by  any  of  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods.] 

"  Communications  were  received  from  the  Presbytery  of  Harmony. 
They  were  read  and  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of  Rev.  S.  H. 
Gridley,  D.D.,  Hon.  Robert  Denniston,  and  Samuel  M.  Blatchford."— 
Minutes,  1858,  p.  575. 

"  A  communication  was  received,  and  read,  from  Rev.  A.  H.  H. 
Boyd,  D.D.,  in  behalf  of  the  'United  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.' 
It  was  referred  to  the  special  committee  already  appointed  upon  the  com 
munication  from  the  Presbytery  of  Harmony,  which,  by  order  of  the 
Assembly,  was  increased  by  the  addition  of  Rev.  George  W.  Gale,  D.D., 
Rev.  Elias  J.  Richards,  Rev.  James  Eels,  and  Hon.  John  Porter." — 
Minutes,  1858,  p.  579. 

"The  Assembly  proceeded  to  the  consideration  of  the  report  of  the 
special  Committee  on  the  Communications  of  the  Presbytery  of  Har 
mony,  and  of  the  commissioner  from  the  '  United  Synod  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church/ 

"  The  report  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  committee  to  whom  were  referred  the  communications  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Harmony,  and  from  the  l  United  Synod  of  the  Presbyte- 


566  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

rian  Church/  beg  leave  to  recommend  the  following  resolutions  as  the 
action  of  the  Assembly  in  relation  to  these  communications  : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  this  Assembly  recognize  and  reciprocate  the 
friendly  greetings  and  fraternal  spirit  evinced  in  these  communications, 
as  well  as  in  the  Christian  bearing  and  courtesy  of  the  Ilev.  A.  H.  H. 
Boyd,  D.D.,  the  accredited  representative  of  the  United  Synod. 

"Resolved,  2.  That  this  Assembly  regret  the  unnatural  separation 
which  these  bodies  have  felt  themselves  constrained  to  create,  by  the 
action  which  they  have  taken,  both  because  of  our  family  affinities  and 
sympathies,  and  because  it  weakens  our  ability,  and  diminishes  our  op 
portunities,  for  mutual  aid  and  encouragement,  in  the  great  work  for 
which  the  Church  exists.  We  had  hoped  that,  by  perpetuating  our  re 
lations,  by  kind  interchange  of  views,  and  mutual  prayers,  and  by  that 
light  which  time  and  patient  inquiry  secure,  we  should  ultimately  be  of 
one  mind  touching  the  subject  of  slavery,  as  we  now  are  in  relation  to 
other  moral  questions. 

"Resolved,  3.  That  the  consideration  and  adjustment  of  the  claims  to 
the  funds  of  the  Assembly  preferred  by  the  Presbytery  of  Harmony 
and  the  United  Synod  be  postponed  to  the  next  General  Assembly,  for 
the  following  reasons :  1.  That  suitable  time  may  be  given  for  a  full 
examination  of  questions  bearing  on  the  equitable  character,  and  of  the 
legal  consequences,  of  granting  the  claims  preferred.  2.  That  the  As 
sembly  may  be  able  to  ascertain  what  and  how  many  churches  under  the 
care  of  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods  which  have  withdrawn  and  may 
withdraw  from  our  connection,  may  desire  to  retain  their  relations  to  the 
Assembly,  and  whose  claims  to  a  share  in  the  distribution  of  the  Church 
Erection  Fund  will  consequently  remain  undisputed.  3.  That  the  final 
adjustment  of  these  claims,  made  as  the  result  of  due  deliberation,  mu 
tual  conference  of  the  parties,  and  prayer  to  Him  who  giveth  wisdom  to 
his  servants,  may  be  satisfactory,  if  possible,  to  all  concerned. 

"Resolved,  4.  That  the  whole  subject  of  these  claims  be  referred  to 
the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund,  to  consider  and 
report  thereon  to  the  next  General  Assembly/7 — Ibid.  pp.  588,  589. 

3.   Report  of  the  Trustees. 

"  The  trustees  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  have  presented  two  spe 
cial  reports,  on  subjects  referred  to  them  by  the  last  General  Assembly, 
the  adoption  of  both  which  is  recommended  by  this  committee. 


SECESSION    OF    THE    SOUTHERN    CHURCHES.  567 

"  The  first  of  these  special  reports  relates  to  three  papers  :  one  from 
the  Presbytery  of  Harmony,  discussing  the  action  of  the  General  As 
sembly  of  1857,  on  slavery,  and  assigning  the  reasons  for  the  withdrawal 
of  that  body  from  our  ecclesiastical  connection ;  a  second  paper  from 
the  same  Presbytery,  asking  for  a  payment,  to  it  and  to  the  Synod  of 
Kentucky,  of  what  it  calls  its  l  proportional  share'  of  the  Church  Erec 
tion  Fund;  and  a  third  paper,  signed  by  A.  H.  H.  Boyd,  in  behalf  of  a 
body  styled  '  The  United  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church/  and  repre 
sented  as  consisting  of  the  Synods  of  Virginia,  Tennessee,  West  Ten 
nessee,  and  Mississippi,  which  it  is  stated  have  withdrawn  from  our  con 
nection  ;  asking  for  the  payment  to  that  body  of  the  sums  allotted  to 
those  Synods  in  the  first  apportionment  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund. 

"The  trustees  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund  justly  remark,  in  their 
special  report,  that  the  first  paper  calls  for  no  action  on  our  part ;  and. 
the  charter  by  which  they  are  incorporated  explicitly  defines  '  feeble 
congregations  in  connection  with'  the  'General  Assembly/  as  the  only 
bodies  to  which  their  grants  can  be  made,  and  these  trustees  as  the  only 
persons  by  whom  the  fund,  or  any  portion  of  it,  can  be  held." — Minutes, 
1859,  p.  26. 

4.  Adjustment  of  the  Rolf. 

"  On  the  adjustment  of  the  roll,  the  committee  recommend  that  the 
Synod  of  Mississippi,  having  notified  the  Assembly  of  their  withdrawal 
from  our  connection,  be  stricken  from  the  roll. 

"The  committee  further  state,  that  they  have  information  that  the 
Synod  of  Kentucky  has  been  dissolved ;  and  that  the  Synods  of  East 
and  West  Tennessee  have  abjured  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Assembly,  and 
formally  connected  themselves  with  another  ecclesiastical  body;  and  we 
would  therefore  recommend  that  these  Synods  be  stricken  from  the  roll. 

"  The  committee  further  state,  that  though  the  Synod  of  Virginia  has 
formally  withdrawn,  and  the  Synod  of  Missouri  assumed  an  independent 
position  in  reference  to  this  Assembly,  still  there  is  evidence  to  believe 
that  there  are  many  brethren,  and  even  Presbyteries,  in  the  bounds  of 
these  Synods  who  sympathize  with  us.  We  therefore  advise  that  the 
names  of  these  Synods  be  retained  until  these  brethren  have  determined 
upon  the  relation  they  desire  to  occupy.  Adopted." — Minutes,  1859, 
p.  44. 


568  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

5.   Synod  of  Virginia  stricken  from  the  Roll.     Bounds  of  the  Synod  of 
Pen  n  sylva  nia  en  la  rged. 

"The  Committee  on  Church  Polity  beg  leave  to  report  on  the  adjust 
ment  of  the  roll : 

"  Whereas,  the  Presbyteries  of  Winchester,  Piedmont,  and  Hanover, 
constituent  portions  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia,  have  followed  up  their 
previous  vote  of  withdrawal  from  the  Assembly  by  a  positive  connection 
with  another  ecclesiastical  body;  therefore,  the  committee  recommend 
that  the  bounds  of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  be  so  extended  as  to  em 
brace  the  State  of  Maryland  and  the  District  of  Columbia;  that  the 
Presbytery  of  the  District  of  Columbia  be  transferred  to  the  said  Synod ; 
and  that  the  Synod  of  Virginia  be  stricken  from  the  roll.  Adopted." — 
Minutes,  1860,  p.  240. 


SECTION  2. — BIBLE-CLASSES  AND  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

1.  The  forming  of  Bible-classes  recommended.  Plan  of  instruction  not  to  super 
sede  the  Catechism. — 2.  Sabbath-schools  and  the  instruction  of  the  young. 
American  Sunday-School  Union  indorsed. — 3.  Catechetical  instruction  urged  on 
pastors,  parents,  and  teachers. 

1.    The  forming  of  B title-classes  recommended. 

"The  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  overture  from  the  Synod  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey,  on  forming  classes  of  young  people,  for 
studying  and  reciting  the  Bible,  reported ;  and  their  report,  being  read 
and  amended,  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  it  be  recommended,  and  it  is  hereby  recom 
mended  earnestly,  to  the  Ministers  and  Sessions  which  are  in  connection 
with  the  General  Assembly,  to  pay  especial  attention  to  this  subject, 
and  provide,  without  delay,  for  the  stated  instruction  of  the  children 
and  youth  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  within  their  respective  congregations. 

"  2.  That  although  the  particular  manner  of  instruction  and  recitation 
in  the  congregations  ought  to  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  their  Ministers 
and  Sessions  respectively ;  yet  as  some  degree  of  uniformity  is  desirable 
in  a  business  of  so  much  magnitude,  it  is  recommended  as  the  most 
effectual  means  of  promoting  the  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
that  in  all  our  churches,  classes  be  formed  of  the  youth,  to  recite  the 


BIBLE-CLASSES  AND   SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.  569 

Scriptures  in  regular  order;  that  the  recitations,  if  convenient,  be  as 
often  as  once  a  week,  and  from  two  to  five  chapters  appointed  for  each 
recitation ;  that  the  youth  be  examined  on, 

"  1.  The  history  of  the  world,  but  more  especially  of  the  Church  of 
God,  and  of  the  heathen  nations  who  were  God's  agents  in  accomplish 
ing  his  purposes  towards  his  Church. 

"  2.  Persons  noted  for  their  piety  or  ungodliness,  and  the  effects  of 
their  example  in  promoting  or  injuring  the  best  interests  of  mankind. 

"3.  Doctrines  and  precepts,  or  'what  man  is  to  believe  concerning 
God,  and  what  duty  God  requires  of  man/ 

"  4.  Positive  ordinances,  or  the  directions  which  God  has  given  as  to 
the  way  in  which  he  is  to  be  worshipped  acceptably. 

"  5.  The  particular  features  of  character  of  which  the  Spirit  of  God 
has  given  notice,  both  in  wicked  and  good  persons;  in  the  last  particu 
larly  regarding  those  who  were  types  of  Christ,  and  in  what  the  typical 
resemblance  consisted. 

"  6.  The  gradual  increase  from  time  to  time  of  information  concern 
ing  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  Scriptures;  noting  the  admirable 
adaptation  of  every  new  revelation  of  doctrine  to  the  increased  maturity 
of  the  Church.  The  nature  of  God's  law,  its  immutability  as  consti 
tuting  an  everlasting  rule  of  right  and  wrong,  the  full  and  perfect  illus 
tration  of  its  precepts  given  by  Christ. 

"  7.  The  change  which  God  has  made  from  time  to  time  in  the 
positive  ordinances,  together  with  the  reasons  of  that  change.  The  dif 
ference  between  the  moral  law,  and  those  laws  which  are  positive. 

"8.  The  illustrations  of  the  divine  perfections  in  the  history,  bio 
graphy,  doctrines  and  precepts,  together  with  the  positive  ordinances  of 
the  Scriptures. 

"9.  The  practical  lessons  to  regulate  our  conduct  in  the  various  rela 
tions  of  life. 

"  On  all  these  particulars  the  meaning  of  the  words  used  in  Scripture 
must  be  ascertained,  that  thus  we  may  understand  what  we  read. 

"  Resolved,  3.  That  the  Presbyteries  under  the  care  of  the  Assembly 
be  directed  to  take  order  on  this  subject;  and  they  are  hereby  informed 
that  this  is  not  to  come  into  the  place  of  learning  the  Catechism  of  our 
Church,  but  to  be  added  to  it  as  an  important  branch  of  religious  edu 
cation."—  Minu tes,  1816,  pp.  627,  628. 


570  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

2.    On  Salbath- Schools  and  Instruction  of  the  Young. 

a.  "In  all  parts  of  the  Church,  Sunday-schools  are  established,  and 
there  is  but  one  sentiment  respecting  them.     The  Assembly  consider 
them  as  among  the  most  useful  and  blessed  institutions  of  the  present 
day.     They  have  a  most  extensive  reforming  influence.     They  apply  a 
powerful  corrective  to  the  most  inaccessible  portions  of  the  community. 
They  begin  moral  education  at  the  right  time,  in  the  best  manner,  and 
under  the  most  promising  circumstances.     They  act  indirectly,  but  most 
powerfully,  upon    teachers    and    parents,   and    frequently   become    the 
means  of  bringing  them  to  the  church,  and  to  the  knowledge  and  love 
of  the  truth.     Sunday-schools  are  highly  useful  everywhere;  but  they 
are  peculiarly  adapted  to  new  and  destitute  regions  of  the  Church.    The 
plan  is  simple,  and  easily  accomplished.     It  requires  comparatively  little 
knowledge  and  experience  to  conduct  them  with  ability.     Very  much 
good  has  been  accomplished  by  the  instrumentality  of  young  ladies  and 
gentlemen.      The  pleasing  scene  is  often  witnessed  in   some  of  our 
new  settlements,  of  large  meetings  of  children  on  the  Lord's  day,  in 
schoolhouseSj  or  beneath  the  shade  of  the  original  forest.     The  voice  of 
praise  and  prayer  is  heard,  and   the  word  of  the  living  God  is  pro 
claimed,  amid  the  most  beautiful  works  of  his  hand." — Minutes,  1824, 
p.  129. 

b.  "  Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  do  cordially  approve  of  the 
design  and  operations  of  the  American  Sunday-School  Union ;  and  they 
do  earnestly  recommend  to  all  ministers  and  churches  under  their  care 
to  employ  their  vigorous  and  continued  exertions  in  the  establishment 
and  support  of  Sabbath-schools." — Minutes,  1826,  p.  181. 

c.  "  After  the  recess  the  Assembly  met.     The  committee  to  whom 
was  recommitted  the  report  of  the  committee  on  the  religious  education 
of  the  rising  generation,  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted, 
viz. : 

"Resolved,  1.  That  the  Assembly  regard  the  religious  education  of 
youth  as  a  subject  of  vital  importance,  identified  with  the  most  precious 
interests  and  hopes  of  the  Christian  Church. 

"2.  That  the  present  indications  of  Divine  Providence  are  such  as 
imperiously  to  demand  of  the  Christian  community  unusual  effort  to 
train  up  the  rising  generation  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord. 

"3.  That  the  Board  of  Missions  be  and  hereby  are  instructed  to  en- 


BIBLE-CLASSES   AND    SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.  571 

join  it  on  their  missionaries  sedulously  to  attend  to  the  religious  educa 
tion  of  t\\Q  young  ;  and  particularly  that  they  use  all  practicable  effort 
to  establish  Sail a ih- schools,  and  to  extend  and  perpetuate  the  blessings 
of  Sabbath-school  instruction. 

"  4.  That  the  system  of  Sabbath-school  instruction,  now  in  prevalent 
and  cheering  operation,  be  and  hereby  is  most  earnestly  recommended 
to  the  attention  of  the  pastors  and  sessions  of  all  our  churches. 

"  5.  That  the  Presbyteries  be  and  hereby  are  enjoined  to  make  the 
progress  of  the  Sabbath-school  cause  within  their  bounds  the  subject  of 
special  inquiry,  and  annually  to  transmit  the  results  of  such  inquiry  to 
the  General  Assembly. 

"  6.  That  inasmuch  as  the  advantages  of  the  Sabbath-school  may,  in 
some  cases,  be  the  occasion  of  remissness  in  the  important  duty  of 
fami/i/  instruction,  it  be  and  hereby  is  earnestly  recommended  to  heads 
of  families  not  to  relax  in  their  personal  religious  efforts  at  home,  and 
in  the  domestic  circle ;  but  that  they  abound  more  and  more  in  the  use 
of  all  appropriate  means,  to  promote  sound  knowledge  and  experimental 
piety,  in  every  member  of  their  households. 

"  7.  That  as  there  is  reason  to  apprehend  that  the  Catechisms  of  this 
Church  have  not,  in  some  parts  of  our  Zion,  received  that  measure  of 
attention  to  which  their  excellence  entitles  them,  it  be  and  hereby  is 
recommended  to  pastors,  sessions,  heads  of  families,  superintendents  of 
Sabbath-schools,  and  all  charged  with  the  education  of  youth  in  our 
connection,  to  give  these  admirable  summaries  of  Christian  truth  and 
duty  a  prominent  place  in  their  instructions  to  the  youth  and  children 
under  their  care. 

"  8.  That  it  be  and  hereby  is  recommended  to  the  pastors  and  sessions 
of  our  churches  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  system  of  In 
fant  School  instruction,  now  in  happy  progress  in  many  places,  and  if 
practicable,  to  establish  such  schools  in  their  congregations/' — Minutes, 
1830,  pp.  303,  304. 

d.  "  Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  regard  with  an  increased 
and  lively  interest  the  efforts  of  the  American  Sunday-school  Union, 
especially  in  their  endeavors  to  open,  in  the  destitute  portions  of  the 
land,  Sabbath-schools  for  the  instruction  and  training-  of  the  young; 
that  we  acknowledge  them  in  many  instances  to  have  formed  the  nucleus 
of  a  Christian  congregation;  and  we  desire  renewedly  to  commend  this 
noble  cause  to  the  sympathy,  prayers,  and  benefactions  of  the  Church." 
—Minutes,  1853,  p.  314. 


572  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

3.    Catechetical  Instruction. 

a.  "  The  Synod,  considering  the  education  of  youth,  and  their  being 
early  instructed  in  just  principles  of  religion,  as  one  of  the  most  useful 
means  of  promoting  the  influence  of  the  Gospel  in  our  churches, 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  enjoined  on  every  Presbytery,  in  appointing 
supplies  to  their  vacant  congregations,  to  take  order  that  every  vacant 
congregation  within  their  limits  be  carefully  catechized  at  least  once  in 
the  year,  in  the  same  manner  as  is  required  by  the  order  of  our  Church 
in  congregations  supplied  with  regular  pastors,  and  that  the  ministers 
appointed  to  this  duty  be  required  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Presbytery 
to  render  an  account  of  their  fidelity  in  this  respect,  and  that  the  Pres 
byteries  be  required  to  render  an  account  of  their  attention  to  this  order 
at  the  next  meeting  of  Synod." — Minutes,  1785,  p.  513. 

b.  "Resolved,  That  as  there  is  reason   to  apprehend  that  the  Cate 
chisms  of  this  Church  have  not  in  some  parts  of  our  Zion  received  that 
measure  of  attention  to  which  their  excellence  entitles  them,  it  be,  and 
hereby  is  recommended  to  pastors,  sessions,  heads  of  families,  superin 
tendents  of  Sabbath-schools,  and  all  charged  with  the  education  of  youth, 
in  our  connection,  to  give  these  admirable  summaries  of  Christian  truth 
and  duty  a  prominent  place  in  their  instructions  to  the  youth  and  chil 
dren  under  their  care." — Minutes,  1830,  p.  304. 

c.  "  Resolved,  That  the  use  of  the  Catechism  in  the  religious  instruc 
tion  of  the  young,  and  of  the  children  under  the  care  of  the  Church,  be 
aifectionately  and  earnestly  recommended  to  the  Sessions  in  connection 
with  the  General  Assembly,  as  the  most  effectual  means  under  God  of 
preserving  the  purity,  peace,  and  unity  of  our  Church/' — Minutes,  1832, 
p.  372. 

cl.  "  The  following  resolutions,  on  the  subject  of  Catechetical  Instruc 
tion,  were  offered  by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Smith,  and  unanimously  adopted, 
viz.  : 

"  1.  Resolved,  That  this  General  Assembly  considers  the  practice  of 
Catechetical  Instruction  as  well  adapted  to  the  prosperity  and  purity  of 
our  Zion. 

"2.  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  view  also  with  deep  regret  the 
neglect,  on  the  part  of  many  of  our  churches,  of  this  good  old  practice 
of  our  fathers — a  practice  which  has  been  attended  with  such  blessed 
results  to  the  cause  of  pure  and  undefiled  religion. 

"3.   Resolved)  That  the  institution  of  Sabbath-schools  does  not  exon- 


SUPPORT   OP   THE    MINISTRY.  573 

erate  ministers  and  parents  from  the  duty  of  teaching  the  Shorter  Cate 
chism  to  the  children  of  the  Church. 

"  4.  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  earnestly  and  affectionately  re 
commend  to  all  the  ministers  and  ruling  elders  in  its  connection,  to  teach 
diligently  the  young  of  their  respective  congregations,  the  Assembly's 
Shorter  Catechism/' — Minutes,  1849,  p.  181. 


SECTION  3. — ON  THE  SUPPORT  OF  THE  MINISTRY. 

1.  Support  of  the  Ministry.  Early  action.  Glebe  and  parsonage  recommended. — 
2.  Adequate  provision  urged.  Presbyteries  to  inquire  into  the  fulfilment  of 
contracts. — 3.  Congregational  libraries  for  the  use  of  ministers. — 4.  Liberality 
in  the  support  of  the  ministry  urged. 

1.  Early  Action.      Glebe  and  Parsonage  recommended. 

a.  "  That  in  every  congregation  a  committee  be  appointed,  who  shall 
twice  in  every  year  collect  the  minister's  stipend,  and  lay  his  receipts 
before  the  Presbytery  preceding  the  Synod }  and  at  the  same  time,  that 
ministers  give  an  account  of  their  diligence  in  visiting  and  catechizing 
their  people. 

"  The  Synod  recommends  that  a  glebe,  with  a  convenient  house  and 
necessary  improvements,  be  provided  for  every  minister." — Minutes, 
1766,  p.  359. 

b.  "As  it  appears  the  interest  of  religion  is  in  danger  of  suffering 
greatly  at  present,  from  the  many  discouragements  under  which  the 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  labor  from  the  want  of  a  sufficient  support  and 
liberal  maintenance  from  the  congregations  they  serve,  the  Synod  appoint 
a  committee  to  take  this  matter  into  consideration,  and  report  thereon  to 
the  next  Synod. 

"  Ordered,  That  Drs.  Witherspoon,  Ewing,  and  Spencer,  be  a  com 
mittee  for  this  purpose." — Minutes,  1782,  p.  495. 

"  Said  committee  brought  in  their  report,  which  was  read  and  con 
sidered.  Whereupon, 

"  Ordered,  That  Drs.  Witherspoon  and  Spencer,  with  Mr.  S.  Smith, 
be  a  committee  to  prepare  a  draught  of  a  pastoral  letter  to  the  congrega 
tions  under  the  inspection  of  Synod,  as  also  to  prepare  some  resolves  to 
be  passed  by  Synod,  and  accompany  said  letter;  the  whole  to  be  brought 
in  to-morrow  morning." — Minutes,  1783,  p.  499. 

[The  letter  was  brought  in,  amended,  and  ordered  to  be  published.] 


574  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

2.  Adequate  Provision  to  be  urged. 

[The  Assembly  enjoins  it  upon  all  the  Presbyteries]  "that  they  will 
endeavor,  as  far  as  the  state  of  society  in  different  parts  of  our  Church 
will  permit,  to  withdraw  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  from  every  worldly 
avocation  for  the  maintenance  of  themselves  and  families,  that  they  may 
devote  themselves  entirely  to  the  work  of  the  ministry ;  and  that,  for 
this  end,  they  labor  to  convince  the  people  of  the  advantage  that  will 
accrue  to  themselves  from  making  such  adequate  provision  for  the  sup 
port  of  their  teachers  and  pastors,  that  they  may  be  employed  wholly  in 
their  sacred  calling;  and,  in  those  places  where  it  may  be  found  prudent 
and  practicable,  that  they  devise  means  to  have  the  contracts  between 
congregations  and  pastors  examined  in  the  Presbyteries  at  stated  periods, 
inquiries  instituted  with  regard  to  the  reciprocal  fulfilment  of  duties  and 
engagements,  and  endeavors  used  to  promote  punctuality  and  fidelity  in 
both  parties,  before  distress  on  one  side,  or  complaint  on  the  other,  grow 
to  a  height  unfavorable  to  the  interests  of  religion." — Minutes,  1799, 
p.  181. 

3.    Congregational  Libraries. 

"  That  inasmuch  as  the  clergy,  in  many  situations  in  the  country,  have 
it  not  in  their  power  to  furnish  themselves  with  libraries  so  various  and 
extensive  as  to  enable  them  to  discharge  their  office  in  the  manner  most 
useful  to  the  people,  most  dignified  for  the  puipit,  and  most  honorable 
for  religion,  it  be  recommended  to  the  Presbyteries  to  take  measures  to 
promote  the  establishment  of  congregational  libraries,  under  such  regu 
lations  that  the  Presbyteries  shall  have  the  principal  direction  in  the 
choice  of  the  books  with  which  those  libraries  shall  be  furnished.  The 
ministers  of  the  respective  churches  shall  have  the  immediate  care  and 
the  constant  use  of  them,  and  that  means  be  used  to  make  annual  aug 
mentations  to  them." — Minutes,  1799,  p.  182. 

4.    Liberality  in  the  Support  of  the  Ministry  urged. 

"  The  following  preamble  and  resolution,  proposed  by  Elder  Walter  S. 
Griffith,  were  unanimously  adopted  : 

"  Whereas,  it  is  highly  important  to  our  churches  that  they  be  served 
by  competent  ministers,  who  shall  be  free  from  worldly  cares  and  avoca 
tions  ;  whereas,  the  law  of  Christ  expressly  declares,  <  that  they  which 


ON    FASTING   AND   PRAYER.  575 

preach  the  Gospel  should  live  of  the  Gospel/  and  that  he  '  that  is  taught 
in  the  word'  should  'communicate  unto  him  that  teacheth  in  all  good 

D 

things/  thus  making  it  the  solemn  duty,  as  it  is  clearly  the  interest,  of 
Christian  churches  to  provide  for  their  ministers  a  competent  and  liberal 
support;  whereas,  the  cost  of  the  necessities  of  life  has  advanced  so 
greatly  as  to  render  the  salaries  heretofore  paid  to  many  of  our  ministers 
entirely  inadequate,  causing  to  them  and  to  their  families  great  anxiety 
and  distress ;  and  whereas,  this  subject  demands  at  this  time,  and  should 
not  fail  to  attract,  the  special  attention  of  every  Christian  ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  earnestly  exhort  all  the 
churches  under  their  care  to  consider  this  question  in  the  spirit  of 
Christian  fidelity  and  liberality,  and  to  make  ample  provision  for  those 
who  minister  to  them  in  word  and  doctrine;  stipulating  so  to  increase 
their  compensation,  when  necessary,  as  to  make  their  salaries  fully  ade 
quate  to  their  comfortable  support,  in  view  of  the  enhanced  expenses  of 
living,  and  paying  the  amount  agreed  upon  with  honorable  and  Christian 
promptitude/' — Minutes,  1854,  pp.  499,  500. 


SECTION  4. — ON  FASTING  AND  PRAYER. 

1.  Prayer  for  the  General  Assembly. — 2.  Special  seasons  for  prayer  recommended. 
— 3.  Revivals  consequent  on  special  prayer. — 4.  The  monthly  concert.  Time 
of  observing  it. — 5.  Appointment  of  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  the  conver 
sion  of  the  world, — first  Monday  in  January.  Standing  custom. — G.  Prayer  for 
magistrates. 

].  Prayer  for  the  General  Assembly. 

u  An  overture  from  the  Synod  of  North  Carolina  was  received  and 
read,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  Whereas,  the  General  Assembly  is  the  highest  and  most  important 
judicatory  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  and  whereas,  to  obtain  the  Di 
vine  blessing  on  that  judicatory  must  appear,  to  every  Christian  of  our 
denomination,  to  be  a  matter  of  the  utmost  moment ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  this  Synod  do  respectfully  suggest  to  the  General 
Assembly  the  propriety  of  recommending  to  all  the  churches  under  their 
care  to  observe  the  afternoon  or  evening  previous  to  the  meeting  of  that 
body,  as  a  season  of  special  prayer  to  Almighty  God  for  his  blessing; 
that  he  would,  of  his  infinite  mercy,  condescend  to  superintend  and 


576  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

direct  all  their  measures,  deliberations  and  decisions,  so  that  all  may  re 
dound  to  the  promotion  of  his  own  glory,  and  the  general  prosperity  of 
that  particular  Church  to  which  we  belong. 

"  After  some  discussion,  the  above  overture  was  adopted." — Minutes, 
1821,  p.  10. 

2.   Special  Seasons  for  Prayer  recommended. 

11  The  General  Assembly,  taking  into  serious  consideration  the  general 
aspect  of  religion,  the  great  decay  of  vital  piety,  and  the  prevalence  of 
infidelity  and  immorality,  and  being  deeply  affected  thereby  (especially 
considering  the  many  blessings  which,  as  a  nation  and  a  people,  we 
enjoy),  agreed  to  urge,  in  the  most  earnest  manner,  upon  all  their  mem 
bers,  the  utmost  diligence,  perseverance,  arid  zeal,  in  the  discharge  of 
the  duties  of  their  offices  and  stations ;  and  that  they  prosecute  those 
measures,  agreeably  to 'the  word  of  God,  which  they  may  judge  most 
conducive  to  counteract  the  existing  evils,  and  most  effectually  serve  the 
interests  of  evangelical  principles,  and  of  true  and  undefiled  religion ; 
and  would  recommend  that  some  particular  times  be  set  apart  as  special 
seasons  of  prayer  with  respect  to  those  objects,  as  may  be  found  most 
convenient  in  their  respective  circumstances." — Minutes,  1796,  p.  116. 

3.  Revivals  in  connection  with  Special  Prayer. 

"The  Assembly  consider  it  as  worthy  of  particular  attention,  that 
most  of  the  accounts  of  revivals  communicated  to  them  stated  that  the 
institution  of  praying  societies,  or  seasons  of  special  prayer  to  God  for 
the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  generally  preceded  the  remarkable  displays 
of  Divine  grace  with  which  our  land  has  been  recently  favored.  In  most 
cases,  preparatory  to  the  signal  effusions  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  pious 
have  been  stirred  up  to  cry  fervently  and  importunately  that  God  would 
appear  and  vindicate  his  own  cause.  The  Assembly  see  in  this  a  con 
firmation  of  the  word  of  God,  and  an  ample  encouragement  of  the 
prayers  and  hopes  of  the  pious  for  future  and  more  extensive  manifesta 
tions  of  Divine  power ;  and  they  trust  that  the  churches  under  their 
care,  while  they  see  cause  of  abundant  thankfulness  for  this  dispensa 
tion,  will  also  perceive  that  it  presents  new  motives  to  zeal  and  fervor  in 
applications  to  that  throne  of  grace  from  which  every  good  and  perfect 
gift  cometh."— Minutes,  1803,  p.  275. 


FASTING    AND   PRAYER.  577 


4.    The  Monthly  Concert. 

a.  "  Whereas,  the   King  and  Head  of  the  Church  has  during  the 
last  year  poured  out  his  Spirit  in  a  remarkable  and  glorious  manner  on 
many  of  the  churches  within  our  bounds,  and  has  manifestly  succeeded 
the  efforts  of  Christians  in  past  years,  in  their  endeavors  to  diffuse  the 
light  of  revealed  truth  among  the  heathen  ]  and  has  hereby  encouraged 
and  urged  the  pious  to  united  and  importunate  wrestling  at  the  throne 
of  grace ;  and  whereas  many  Christians  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe, 
have  agreed  to  set  apart  the  first  Monday  evening  of  every  month,  that 
they  may  meet  together,  and  say  with  one  heart,  to  the  prayer-hearing 
God,  l  Thy  kingdom  come ;  come,  Lord  Jesus,  and  fill  the  world  with 
thy  glory/     Therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  this  General  Assembly  do  approve  of  concerts  of 
prayer  for  the  advancement  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  and  do  recom 
mend  it  to  the  friends  of  Zion  in  their  connection,  as  far  as  may  be 
convenient,  to  spend  the  first  Monday  in  every  month  in  special  prayer 
to  God,  for  the  coming  and  glorious  reign  of  Christ  on  earth. " — Minutes, 
1815,  p.  601,  602. 

b.  "  In  reference  to  the  time  of  observing  the  Monthly  Concert,  on 
motion  of  Dr.  Cox,  the  Assembly  agreed  to  recommend,  that  it  be  con 
tinued  permanently  on  the  first  Monday  evening  of  every  month,  without 
change ;  since  it  is  now  to  be  considered  as  a  concert  of  Protestant 
Christendom  throughout  the  world,  urging  the  petition  Thy  kingdom 
come,  in  the  same  spirit,  and,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  according  to  the 
different  meridians  of  their  habitation,  at  the  same  time." — Minutes,, 
1839,  p.  26. 

5.  Appointment  of  a  Day  of  Prayer  for  the  Conversion  of  the  World. 

a.  "The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  Overture  No.  11,  viz.,  <on 
the  appointment  of  a  day  of  prayer  for  the  conversion  o*f  the  world/ 
made  the  following  report,  which  was  unanimously  adopted,  viz.  : 

"It  being  understood,  that  Christians  and  churches,  both  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe,  have  at  different  times  desired  the  public  desig 
nation  of  a  day  to  be  observed  by  all  Christians  throughout  the  world,. 
as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on. 
the  whole  family  of  man,  and  this  Assembly  being  deeply  impressed! 
with  the  importance  and  high  privilege  of  such  an  observance,  and 

37 


578  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

feeling  urged  and  encouraged  to  more  importunate  supplications  in  view 
of  the  recent  revivals  of  religion  in  this  land,  as  well  as  the  signs  of  the 
present  time  in  relation  to  the  prospects  of  the  Church  in  other  nations, 
therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  ministers  and  churches 
under  the  supervision  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  and  the  churches  in  correspon 
dence  with  the  same,  to  observe  the  first  Monday  in  January,  1833,  as 
a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  for  the  divine  blessing  on  the  ministry  of 
the  Gospel  throughout  the  world,  for  the  revival  of  religion  in  the  whole 
of  Christendom,  and  for  the  entire  success  of  those  benevolent  enterprises 
which  have  for  their  object  the  world's  conversion  to  God. 

"  Resolved ,  That  other  denominations  of  Christians  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  Christian  churches  in  all  other  countries,  be,  and  they 
hereby  are  affectionately,  and  with  Christian  salutations,  invited  to  con 
cur  in  the  observance  of  the  day  above  specified. 

"Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  published  with  the  signature  of 
the  Moderator  and  Clerk  of  the  General  Assembly,  for  the  information 
of  such  Synods,  Assemblies,  Associations,  Conferences,  Conventions, 
and  other  ecclesiastical  bodies  as  may  choose  to  recommend  the  above 
observance  to  the  churches  under  their  care.  And  may  grace,  mercy, 
and  peace  be  multiplied  to  all  throughout  the  world  who  love  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."— Minutes,  1832,  p.  365. 

b.  "  At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  last  year,  an 
additional  measure  was  adopted,  in  compliance  with  overtures  from 
various  quarters,  calling  for  the  public  designation  of  a  day  to  be 
observed  by  all  Christians  throughout  the  world,  as  a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  whole  family  of  man. 
For  this  purpose,  the  first  Monday  of  January  last  was  accordingly 
designated ;  and  it  is  understood  that  the  day  was  observed,  both  in  the 
Old  World  and  the  New,  with  much  solemnity,  and  in  many  instances 
with  a  sacred  pleasure  and  humble  hope  in  God,  the  recollection  of 
which  is  still  delightful  and  animating.  This  General  Assembly,  there 
fore,  do  earnestly  recommend  to  all  the  churches  and  people  under  their 
pastoral  superintendence,  to  continue  the  observance  of  the  same  day 
of  the  coming  year,  and  for  the  same  purpose  as  that  to  which  the  speci 
fied  day  of  the  present  year  was  set  apart.  Let  the  whole  of  the  first 
Monday  of  January,  1834,  be  observed  as  a  season  of  special  prayer — 
of  united,  fervent,  believing  prayer,  for  the  conversion  of  the  world  to 


FASTING   AND    PRAYER.  579 

God.  And  if  it  be  thus  observed,  prayer  will  of  course  be  accompanied 
with  deep  humiliation — with  a  sincere  prostration  of  soul  before  the 
holy  and  all-seeing  God,  in  view  of  personal  guilt,  and  of  the  sin  of  the 
Christian  world  in  so  long  neglecting  to  obey,  as  they  ought  to  have 
done,  one  of  the  last  commands  of  their  redeeming  God,  before  he 
ascended  to  his  throne  in  the  heavens,  to  disciple  all  nations,  and  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature — to  send  the  messages  of  salvation 
to  the  perishing  millions  of  the  unevangelized  world.  And  the  Assembly 
would  earnestly  recommend  that  this  observance  be  connected  with 
fasting,  and  abstinence  from  secular  labor.  The  great  spiritual  object 
is  a  union  of  hearts,  and  of  unfeigned,  ardent,  and  repeated  aspirations, 
supplications,  and  intercessions  at  the  throne  of  eternal  mercy,  through 
the  prevalent  intercession  of  the  great  Mediator  and  Advocate  of  his 
people  there,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  may  come  down  in  a  copious  effusion 
of  his  special,  new-creating,  soul-saving  influence,  for  the  conversion  of 
the  world  to  God — for  the  consolation,  encouragement,  and  abundant 
success  of  the  missionaries  who  are  now  in  the  field  of  labor;  for  raising 
up,  qualifying,  sending  forth,  and  blessing  the  labors  of  additional  mis 
sionaries — a  host  of  apostolic,  devoted,  self-sacrificing  men,  into  all 
heathen  lands,  and  all  destitute  portions  of  lands  already  partially  Gospel- 
ized ;  for  enlightening,  directing,  and  animating  all  missionary  associa 
tions,  and  for  a  special  benediction  on  all  theological  seminaries,  colleges, 
academies,  common  and  Sabbath-schools ;  for  the  translators  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  for  all  Bible  and  tract  societies  and  distributors ;  for 
inclining  the  minds  of  the  whole  Christian  community  to  devote  a  liberal 
portion  of  the  worldly  substance  which  God  has  given  them,  for  the 
promotion  of  his  cause,  and  the  building  up  of  his  kingdom  on  the  ruins 
of  Satan's  empire ;  and  generally  for  a  rich  divine  blessing  on  all  the 
benevolent  and  Christian  associations,  plans,  and  exertions  which  char 
acterize  and  are  the  glory  of  the  day  in  which  we  have  our  lot  in  life." — 
Minutes,  1833,  p.  398. 

[It  has  become  a  standing  custom  of  the  Assembly  to  designate  the 
first  Monday  in  January  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  the  conversion 
of  the  world,  and  also  to  recommend  the  observance  of  the  last  Thursday 
in  February  as  a  day  of  prayer  for  colleges,  theological  seminaries,  and 
other  institutions  of  learning.  See  Minutes,  passim.'] 

6.  Prayer  for  Magistrates. 
"It  is  the  duty  of  the  people  to  pray  for  magistrates;  to  honor  their 


580  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

persons,  to  pay  them  tribute  and  other  dues,  to  obey  their  lawful  com 
mands,  and  to  be  subject  to  their  authority  for  conscience'  sake.  In 
fidelity,  or  differences  in  religion  doth  not  make  void  the  magistrate's 
just  and  legal  authority,  nor  free  the  people  from  their  due  obedience 
to  him."  [Confession  of  Faith,  chap,  xxiii,  sec.  4.] — Minutes,  1830,  p. 
300. 


SECTION  5. — ON  PSALMODY. 

1.  Narrative  of  early  action.  A  new  collection  to  be  prepared,  and  a  committee 
appointed.  The  Book  approved. — 2.  Movement  for  a  new  Book  of  Psalmody: 
referred  to  the  committee  ad  interim. — 3.  The  Church  Psalmist  recommended. 
— 4.  The  Church  Psalmist  purchased  for  the  Assembly ;  a  supplement  added. — 
5.  Book  of  Tunes  prepared  and  published. 

1.    The  Assemlli/'s  Narrative  of  ivhat  lias  hitherto  been  done.     A  new 
Collection  to  be  prepared,  and  a  Committee  appointed. 

"  The  committee  to  which  the  resolution  on  the  subject  of  Psalmody 
was  committed,  the  consideration  of  which  was  deferred  by  the  last 
Assembly,  to  be  taken  up  by  this  Assembly,  reported,  and  their  report 
being  read  and  amended,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz.  : 

"That  the  subject  of  the  resolution,  in  their  opinion,  is  of  such  mag 
nitude  as  to  demand  the  serious  attention  of  this  Assembly. 

"  Psalmody  has  in  all  ages  been  considered  a  most  important  part  of 
the  worship  of  God.  The  Church,  therefore,  has  ever  been  careful  to 
preserve  its  purity  for  the  edification  of  her  members ;  whilst  they  who 
have  departed  from  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  have  availed 
themselves  of  it  to  accomplish  their  divisive  plans  with  the  best  success. 
Mindful  of  their  duty  in  this  matter,  the  General  Assembly  have,  from 
time  to  time,  authorized  the  use  of  House's  version  of  the  Book  of 
Psalms,  Watts' s  Imitation  of  the  Psalms  of  David  with  his  three  books 
of  Hymns,  Barlow's  alterations  of,  and  addition  to  Watts's  Imitation, 
and  Dwight's  revision  of  Watts,  with  his  additional  versifications  and 
collection  of  hymns,  in  the  churches  under  their  care. 

"  Whilst  the  committee  grant  that  each  of  these  systems  of  psalmody 
has  its  excellencies,  they  respectfully  recommend  that  one  uniform  sys 
tem  of  psalmody  be  prepared,  under  the  direction  of  the  Assembly,  for 
the  use  of  the  churches  under  their  care.  They  believe  that  the  time 


PSALMODY.  581 

has  come  when  such  a  measure  may  be  adopted  without  offending  any 
of  our  churches,  and  with  the  prospect  of  complete  success. 

"  If  they  are  correct  in  this  belief,  of  which  the  Assembly  must  judge, 
it  appears  to  them  that  uniformity  in  this  matter  will  furnish  a  strong 
bond  of  peace  and  harmony  between  the  different  sections  of  our  Church. 

11  The  committee  further  recommend  that  this  uniform  system  of 
psalmody  consist  of  two  parts,  viz. : 

"  1.  A  compilation  of  metrical  versions  of  the  Book  of  Psalms,  adher 
ing  to  tli3  order  and  connection  of  the  same  as  far  as  practicable. 

"  In  this  compilation  the  preference  ought  to  be  given  to  the  author 
ized  versions  now  in  use,  so  far  as  the  poetry  and  conformity  to  "the  text 
allow.  The  committee,  in  recommending  this  compilation,  disavow  any 
design  of  committing  the  Assembly  on  the  difference  of  opinion  which 
exists  about  the  Book  of  Psalms.  They  also  wish  it  to  be  distinctly 
understood  that  they  do  not  disapprove  of  Watts.  But  they  think  that 
a  compilation,  such  as  is  recommended,  if  judiciously  executed,  will 
satisfy  the  friends  of  Dr.  Watts's  Imitation,  and  the  advocates  of  the 
exclusive  authority  of  the  Book  of  Psalms. 

li  2.  A  copious  collection  of  hymns  and  spiritual  songs  from  various 
authors,  giving  the  preference  to  those  now  authorized,  so  far  as  good 
taste,  sound  sense,  and  enlightened  piety  admit. 

"Such  a  system  of  psalmody,  the  committee  think,  besides  producing 
harmony  among  ourselves  in  this  part  of  public  worship,  will  tend  to 
enlarge  that  growing  disposition  among  Christians  of  different  denomina 
tions,  to  union  of  exertions  for  promoting  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

"  They  therefore  submit  the  following  resolutions,  viz.  : 

"1.  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  digest  and  prepare  a  uniform 
system  of  psalmody,  as  recommended  in  this  report;  the  whole,  when 
prepared  agreeably  to  the  views  of  the  committee,  to  be  submitted  to  the 
General  Assembly  for  their  adoption. 

"2.  That  the  committee  appointed  to  carry  this  resolution  into  effect 
be  authorized  to  procure,  at  the  expense  of  the  Assembly,  such  versions 
of  the  Book  of  Psalms,  and  such  collections  of  hymns  and  sacred  songs, 
as  they  may  deem  necessary. 

"  The  Assembly  appointed  Drs.  Romeyn,  Alexander,  Nott,  Blatchford, 
and  Spring,  a  committee  to  prepare  and  digest  a  system  of  psalmody,  as 
recommended  in  the  foregoing  report." — Minutes,  1820,  p.  7-40. 

[The  book  was  finally  laid  before  the  Assembly  in  1830,  and  approved.] 


582  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

"  The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Psalmody,  which  was  laid  on  the 
table,  was  taken  up,  when  it  was — 

"Resolved,  That  the  Book  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,  with  the  alterations 
and  additions  submitted  by  the  committee,  be  approved  by  the  Assembly, 
and  its  use  in  the  worship  of  God  be  authorized  in  all  the  churches 
under  its  care/'— Minutes,  1830,  p.  306. 

2.   Movement  for  a  new  JBook  of  Psalmody. 

a.  "  On  motion  of  Dr.  Cox,  the  whole  subject  of  psalmody,  with  the 
procuring  and  furnishing  an  edition  of  psalms  and  hymns  for  our  gene 
ral  use  in  a  way  involving  no  pecuniary  responsibility  to  the  Assembly, 
was  referred  to  the  Consulting  Committee  for  their  deliberation  and 
action,  as  they  may  deem  proper  and  practicable." — Minutes,  1840, 
p.  24. 

3.    The  Church  Psalmist  recommended. 

a.  "  Whereas,  the  General  Assembly  of  1840,  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  about  a  greater  degree  of  uniformity  in  the  psalmody  used  in 
our  churches,  appointed  a  committee  on  this  subject,  and  after  much 
consultation  and  reports  in  part,  committed  ( the  whole  subject,  with  the 
procuring  and  furnishing  an  edition  of  psalms  and  hymns  for  our  general 
use,  in  a  way  involving  no  pecuniary  responsibility  to  the  Assembly/  to 
the  Consulting  Committee,  or  committee  ad  interim; 

"  And  whereas,  that  committee,  agreeably  to  the  powers  intrusted  to 
them,  have,  after  much  time  and  labor  devoted  to  the  subject,  procured 
and  furnished  such  a  Book  of  Psalms  and  Hymns  as  they  deem  suited 
to  general  use  in  our  Church ; 

"  And  whereas,  so  far  as  we  are  enabled  to  judge,  the  said  book, 
entitled  the  l  Church  Psalmist/  fully  merits  the  recommendation  the 
committee  have  given  it; 

tl  Therefore,  that  this  General  Assembly  recommend  the  collection  of 
psalms  and  hymns  entitled  the  l  Church  Psalmist/  to  the  churches  under 
our  care,  leaving  them  at  the  same  time  free  to  continue  the  books  now 
in  use  if  they  deem  it  most  for  edification. 

"  Ordered,  that  the  stated  clerk  pay  to  Dr.  Beman  $400,  the  amount 
of  his  claim,  out  of  the  first  funds  which  may  come  into  his  hands  after 
discharging  the  debt  due  to  the  counsel  engaged  in  the  late  lawsuit." — 
Minutes,  1843,  p.  20-21. 


PSALMODY.  583 

I.  "  The  unfinished  business  of  the  morning,  viz.,  the  consideration  of 
the  report  on  Psalmody,  was  resumed,  and  after  long  discussion,  the  re 
port  was  amended  and  adopted,  and  is  as  follows,  viz.  : 

"Whereas,  the  subject  of  Psalmody  is  one  of  great  importance,  and 
it  is  highly  desirable  that  there  should  be  uniformity  in  respect  to  the 
book  used  for  this  purpose  ; 

"  And,  whereas,  the  Assembly  of  1840,  after  repeated  discussions, 
•  referred  the  whole  subject  of  Psalmody,  with  the  procuring  and  furnish 
ing  an  edition  of  psalms  and  hymns  for  general  use/  to  the  Consulting 
Committee ; 

"  And,  whereas,  this  committee,  agreeably  to  the  powers  intrusted  to 
them,  after  a  patient  and  thorough  examination  of  different  books  sub 
mitted  to  them,  unanimously  adopted  and  recommended  to  the  churches 
the  book  entitled  l  The  Church  Psalmist/  as  in  their  judgment  possessing 
greater  excellencies  than  any  other  known  to  them. 

"  -And,  whereas,  the  Assembly  of  1843  adopted  the  report  of  the  com 
mittee,  thereby  adopting  <  The  Church  Psalmist'  as  the  authorized 
psalmody  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  these  United  States,  and  giving 
their  approbation  to  the  arrangement  entered  into  with  the  editor  and  pub 
lisher,  in  accordance  with  which  ten  per  cent,  of  the  proceeds  of  all  sales 
of  fifty  copies  and  over  was  received  into  the  treasury  of  the  Assembly, 
therefore  be  it 

"  Resolved,  1.  That  it  is  earnestly  recommended  to  the  churches  in 
connection  with  this  Assembly,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  ma 
tured  action  of  our  highest  ecclesiastical  judicatories,  and  thus  securing 
uniformity,  an  increasing  revenue,  and  the  possession  of  a  work  of  high 
intrinsic  merit,  whenever  they  deem  it  best  to  make  a  change  in  their 
psalmody,  to  adopt  the  book  of  the  Assembly. 

"Resohefl,  2.  That  by  the  permission  of  the  editor,  the  second  part 
of  the  51st  Psalm  in  L.  M.  of  Dr.  Watts' s  version  be  substituted  for  the 
third  part  of  the  51st  Psalm  in  C.  M.  of  the  Church  Psalmist." — Mi 
nutes,  1846,  p.  19. 

4.  TJte  Church  Psalmist  purchased.    The  Supplement  added. 

"In  1855,  Minutes,  p.  32,  and  again  in  1856,  Minutes,  p.  215,  the 
Publication  Committee  were  authorized  and  directed  to  (  negotiate  with 
the  compilers  and  publishers  of  the  Church  Psalmist,  and  to  purchase 
that  book  if  this  can  be  done  on  reasonable  terms/  In  1857,  the  com- 


584  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

raittee  report  to  the  Assembly  that  the}7  have  purchased  the  Psalmist, 
upon  which  the  Assembly 

(( Resolved y  That  we  recognize  with  gratitude  to  God  the  completion 
of  the  labors  of  the  Publication  Committee,  by  which  the  Assembly  is 
furnished  with  a  book  of  psalmody  which  they  can  call  their  own  •  the 
profits  of  which  will  materially  aid  the  funds  of  the  Church  in  the  Pub 
lication  cause ;  and  the  Assembly  hereby  recommend  to  the  pastors  and 
the  churches  that  they  use  all  reasonable  diligence  in  promoting  unifor 
mity  by  the  introduction  of  this  book. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  preparation  of  an  appendix  to  the  Church 
Psalmist  of  such  hymns  as  may  be  necessary  to  make  the  work  complete 
be  committed  to  N.  S.  S.  Bcman,  D.D.,  Ptev.  Albert  Barnes,  and 
S.  W.  Fisher,  D.D.,  and  that  this  Committee  report  to  the  next  General 
Assembly."— Minutes,  1857,  pp.  410,  411. 

[The  committee  were  directed  to  report  to  the  Publication  Committee 
(Minutes,  1858,  p.  585),  by  whom  the  supplement  was  published;  and 
the  book  thus  completed.] — Minutes,  1859,  p.  38. 

5.    The  Book  of  Tunes. 

a.  "  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  by  the  Publi 
cation  Committee  to  prepare  a  Book  of  Tunes  adapted  to  the  Church 
Psalmist,  and  that  this  committee  be  instructed  to  consult  and  corre 
spond  with  pastors  and  leaders  of  choirs  in  the  churches,  as  to  the  par 
ticular  tunes  most  in  use  and  most  popular  in  the  congregations,  and  that 
this  committee  report  to  the  next  General  Assembly." — Minutes,  1857, 
p.  410. 

I).  "  The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  Book  of  Tunes  adapted  to 
the  Church  Psalmist,  presented  the  following  report : 

"  The  Committee  on  the  preparation  of  a  Book  of  Tunes  respectfully 
report  to  the  General  Assembly  that  the  work  intrusted  to  them  is  in 
progress,  and  will  shortly  be  completed.  It  was  not  until  near  the  close 
of  the  last  year  that  they  received  notice  of  their  appointment  by  the 
Publication  Committee.  Shortly  after,  they  addressed  a  circular  letter 
to  the  ministers  in  connection  with  the  Assembly,  requesting  them  to 
confer  with  the  leader  of  music  in  their  respective  congregations  and 
forward  such  information  and  suggestions  on  the  whole  subject  as  oc 
curred  to  them.  Numerous  responses  have  been  received,  some  of  them 
of  great  value,  and  the  most  of  them  giving  assurance  of  hearty  coope- 


AMENDMENTS    TO    FORM    OF    GOVERNMENT.  585 

ration  in  the  work.  From  every  part  of  the  Church,  almost  without  ex 
ception,  the  call  has  been  made  for  congregational  singing.  e  Give  us 
the  good  old  tunes  that  our  fathers  sung,  the  tunes  that  our  children 
love,  the  tunes  that  all  can  use  in  the  worship  of  God.'  Such  is  the 
demand  j  and  the  committee  will  endeavor  to  comply  with  it,  fully  per 
suaded  as  they  themselves  are  that  it  is  both  Scriptural  and  reasonable. 
The  work  will  be  carefully  prepared  under  the  supervision  of  a  compe 
tent  professor  of  sacred  music. 

"  If  the  Assembly  desire,  as  some  have  suggested,  a  hymn  book  with 
tunes  incorporated  after  the  manner  of  the  l  Temple  Melodies/  it  will  be 
necessary  for  them  to  give  the  committee  specific  instructions  to  that 
effect. 

"  The  report  was  adopted/' — Minutes,  1858,  p.  585. 

"  The  book  was  published  and  laid  before  the  Assembly  in  1860." — 
Minutes,  pp.  246,  295. 


SECTION  6. — AMENDMENTS  TO  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT,  BOOK  OF 
DISCIPLINE,  AND  DIRECTORY  FOR  WORSHIP,  ADOPTED  OR  PRO 
POSED. 


1.  Amended  in  1821,  and  adopted  substantially  as  at  present. — 2.  Proposal  to 
amend  chap,  x,  Form  of  Government,  refused. — 3.  Amendment  of  chap,  xiii,  sec. 
2,  Form  of  Government,  refused. — 4.  Proposals  to  amend  Form  of  Government, 
chap,  xii,  sec.  4  ;  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sec.  1,  art.  iv,  sees.  2,  3,  4,  On 
Appeals,  Complaints,  and  References  ;  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  7,  and 
chap,  xiv,  sec.  G. — 5.  Answers  of  the  Presbyteries.  Form  of  Government,  chap, 
xii,  sec.  7,  altered.  Five  of  the  six  proposed  amendments  agreed  to,  but  the 
sixth  being  rejected,  the  Assembly  refuse  to  make  the  alterations  proposed. — G. 
Proposal  to  alter  the  ratio  of  representation  in  the  Assembly ;  also  to  make  it 
Synodical  and  not  Presbyterial. — 7.  Proposal  of  an  overture  in  reference  to  calling 
special  meetings  of  Synod.  Not  adopted. — 8.  Reports  of  the  Presbyteries.  The 
ratio  of  representation  altered.  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec,  2. — 9.  Pro 
posal  to  limit  the  appellate  jurisdiction  of  the  Assembly  to  charges  against  a 
minister,  and  to  processes  originating  in  a  Synod. — 10.  Proposal  to  make  the 
Synods,  in  all  cases,  the  courts  of  final  jurisdiction,  to  hold  the  Assembly 
trienriially,  and  to  authorize  the  calling  of  the  Assembly  pro  re  nata. — 11. 
Answers  of  the  Presbyteries,  affirming  the  proposed  amendments.  Alterations 
of  the  Constitution  made  in  accordance.  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sees.  2, 
7,  8. — 12.  Proposal  to  return  to  Annual  Assemblies.  Form  of  Government,  chap, 
xii,  sec.  7,  and  to  restore  appellate  jurisdiction  to  the  Assembly. — 13.  The  pro- 


586  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

posal  more  clearly  defined.  Revision  of  the  Standards  committed  to  a  com 
mittee. — 14.  The  Overtures  1  and  2,  respecting  Annual  Assemblies,  chap,  xi, 
sec.  7,  and  chap,  xii,  sec.  7,  Form  of  Government,  adopted.  Overture  3,  4,  and 
5,  pertaining  to  appeals  in  the  case  of  ministers,  Book  of  Discipline,  chap.  7,  par. 

2,  sec.  iii,  par.  2,  and  sec.  iv,  par.  4,  not  adopted. — 15.  Report  on  changes  of  the 
Constitution.      Proposal  to  restore  it  as  in  18-40,  or  before  the  division.    Overtures 
sent  down,  Book  of  Discipline,  chap.  xii.  sec.  4,  chap,  vii,  sec.  2,  chap,  vii,  sec. 

3,  sub  sec.  2,  chap,   vii,   sec.   4,  sub  sec.  1  ;   Form  of  Government,  chap,    xii,  a 
new  section  after  sec.  7,  and  xii,  sec.  2. — 10.  These  overtures  rejected.     The 
Book  restored  as  before  the  division. 


1.    The  Form  of  Government,  Book  of  Discipline,  and  Directory  for 
Worship,  amended,  1821. 

"In  1820,  a  paper  containing  proposed  amendments  to  the  Form  of 
Government  was  sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries  with  the  following  result. 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  ascertain  the  decisions  of  the  several 
Presbyteries,  on  the  subject  of  the  revised  Form  of  Government  and 
forms  of  process,  and  the  amendments  to  the  Directory,  sent  down  by  the 
last  Assembly,  reported,  and  their  report  being  read,  was  adopted,  and 
is  as  follows,  viz. : 

"  That  there  are  connected  with  this  Assembly  sixty-two  Presby 
teries  ;  that,  therefore,  the  affirmative  vote  of  thirty-two  Presbyteries  is 
necessary  to  make  any  one  article  binding;  that  forty-five  Presbyteries 
have  reported  to  the  Assembly  their  decisions  on  each  chapter,  section, 
and  article  •  that  from  these  reports  it  appears  that  the  most  of  the 
articles  have  been  adopted  unanimously,  and  that  every  chapter,  section, 
and  article  has  been  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of 
Presbyteries ;  that  the  smallest  number  of  votes  given  for  any  one  article 
is  thirty-seven ;  that,  therefore,  the  icliole  of  the  proposed  amendments 
sent  down  by  the  last  Assembly  to  the  Presbyteries  is  ratified,  and 
becomes  a  part  of  the  Constitution." — Minutes,  1821,  p.  9. 

[This  brings  the  Constitution  substantially  to  its  present  form.  Other 
amendments,  since  proposed  or  adopted,  are  given  below  as  a  matter  of 
history,  and  in  some  cases  as  defining  the  true  meaning  of  the  Constitu 
tion.] 

2.  Proposal  to  amend  Chap.  X,  Form  of  Government,  refused. 

"  The  following  overture  from  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  was  re 
ceived  and  read,  viz.,  That  after  the  12th  article  of  the  10th  chapter 


AMENDMENTS    TO    FORM    OF    GOVERNMENT.  587 

of  the  revised  Form  of  Government,  the  following  be  added  :  (  13.  Every 
Presbytery  shall  judge  of  the  qualifications  of  its  own  members/ 

"Resolved,  '1  hat  it  is  inexpedient  to  grant  the  request  contained  in 
this  overture,  or  to  make  any  new  alterations  at  present  in  the  Book  of 
Discipline." — Minutes,  1821,  p.  10. 

3.    Proposal  to  amend  Chap.  XIII,  Sec.  2,  Form  of  Government, 

refused. 

"The  Committee  on  Overture  No.  9,  relating  to  an  amendment 
in  the  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xiii,  sec.  2  (on  the  election  of 
elders),  reported,  and  their  report  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows :  see 
chap,  ii,  sec.  2,  p.  50."— Minutes,  1826,  p.  187. 

4.  Proposal  to  amend  Form  of  Government,  Chap.  XII,  Sect.  4;  J3oo7c 
of  Discipline,  Chap.  VII,  Sect.  1,  2,  3,  4,  On  Appeals,  Complaints, 
and  References;  Form  of  Government,  Chap.  Xll,  Seel.  7,  and 
Chap.  XIV,  Sect.  6. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  recommitted  the  report  on  the  propriety 
of  making  certain  alterations  in  the  existing  rules  which  govern  the 
proceedings  of  the  General  Assembly,  and,  if  necessary,  alterations  in 
the  Constitution  of  our  Church,  recommended, 

"  1st.  That  the  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sect.  4,  be  so  altered 
as  to  read  thus  :  '  The  General  Assembly  shall  act  upon  all  cases  relating 
to  complaints  and  appeals,  which  may  be  regularly  brought  before  them 
from  inferior  judicatories.' 

"2dly.  That  the  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sect  1,  art.  4,  be 
made  to  read  thus  :  t  No  judicial  decision,  however,  of  a  judicatory  shall 
be  revised,  unless  it  be  regularly  brought  up  by  appeal,  or  complaint,  or 
order  of  the  General  Assembly.' 

"  odly.  That  the  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sect.  1,  receive  two 
new  articles,  to  be  numbered  vii  and  viii,  the  first  of  which  shall  read 
thus :  '  Should  it  appear  to  the  General  Assembly,  in  reviewing  the 
records  of  a  Synod,  that  a  Synod  has,  in  the  case  of  a  complaint  or  appeal, 
acted  unconstitutionally,  or  done  something  manifestly  unjust  or  oppres 
sive,  the  General  Assembly  may  pass  a  censure  on  its  proceedings;  but 
no  judicial  decision  of  a  Synod  shall  be  reversed  by  the  General  Assem 
bly  until  due  notice  has  been  given  to  the  original  parties  to  appear 


588  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

before  the  next  General  Assembly,  and  to  the  inferior  courts  to  send  up 
all  the  documents,  papers,  and  testimony  relative  to  the  case,  duly 
authenticated  :'  and  the  second  of  which  shall  read  thus,  viz.  :  '  When 
a  case  shall  be  brought  up,  in  the  manner  prescribed  in  the  foregoing 
article,  the  Assembly  shall  be  governed  in  their  proceedings  by  the  rules 
which  regulate  appeals  before  a  lower  judicature.' 

"4thly.  That  to  the  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sect.  2,  shall  be 
added  a  new  article,  to  be  numbered  x,  in  these  words,  viz.  :  '  References 
made  by  Presbyteries  or  Synods  to  the  General  Assembly  shall  not  be 
for  the  trial  of  any  cause,  but  only  for  advice/ 

"5thly.  That  the  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sect.  3,  receive  an 
additional  article,  to  be  numbered  xviii,  in  the  following  words,  viz. : 
'  All  appeals  from  any  Session  or  Presbytery  shall  terminate  in  the  Synod 
to  which  those  inferior  courts  belong.' 

"  6thly.  That  to  the  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sect.  4,  shall  be 
added  an  article,  to  be  numbered  viii,  in  these  words,  viz.  :  '  Complaints, 
like  appeals,  shall  terminate  in  the  Synods  within  whose  jurisdiction 
they  shall  have  originated.' 

"  In  support  of  the  foregoing  propositions  for  alteration  and  amend 
ment,  the  committee  remark,  that  the  time  which  is  now  consumed  by 
the  Assembly  in  the  consideration  of  complaints  and  appeals  is  such  as 
greatly  to  interfere  with  a  due  attention  to  other  important  and  more 
general  concerns  of  the  Church  j  and  this  demand  of  time  for  complaints 
and  appeals  will,  if  the  existing  system  remains  unaltered,  speedily 
become  so  great,  that  the  very  limited  period  during  which  the  Assem 
bly  can  sit  will  scarcely  suffice  for  attending  to  this  single  object.  The 
foresight  of  this  had,  it  is  believed,  a  principal  influence  in  the  appoint 
ment  of  your  committee ;  and  after  considering  a  variety  of  suggestions, 
insurmountable  objections  occurred  to  the  adoption  of  any  one,  except 
that  which  has  now  been  submitted.  But  to  this,  every  objection,  when 
closely  and  candidly  examined,  seemed  to  your  committee  to  vanish. 

"  The  right  of  complaint  and  appeal  is  indeed  one  of  great  importance, 
and  the  security  of  it  fully  is  known  to  be  regarded  as  among  the  most 
attractive  features  of  the  whole  system  of  Presbyterian  Church  govern 
ment.  I3ut  this  right,  it  is  believed,  may  be  provided  for  in  all  its 
extent,  although  the  change  in  the  Form  of  Government  now  contem 
plated  should  be  made.  It  will  be  recollected,  that  before  the  formation 
of  the  General  Assembly  all  appeals  were  terminated  in  a  Synod — the 
Synod  of  New  York  and' Philadelphia — not  then  more  numerous  than 


AMENDMENTS   TO   FORM   OP   GOVERNMENT.  589 

several  of  our  local  Synods  now  are;  and  with  the  final  decisions  of  that 
Synod  the  churches  were  satisfied ;  quite  as  much  so  as  they  have  ever 
been  with  the  decisions  of  the  General  Assembly.  Indeed,  it  is  believed 
by  your  committee,  that  from  the  greater  advantages  possessed  by  Synods 
for  obtaining  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  true  state  and  circumstances 
of  the  controversies  which  arise  within  their  bounds,  and  from  having 
more  time  for  a  careful  investigation  and  a  full  hearing  of  everything 
relating  to  complaints  and  appeals  that  are  brought  before  them,  they 
are  more  likely  than  the  Assembly  to  make  an  equitable  and  satisfactory 
award.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten,  that  if  an  inequitable  and  unsatisfac 
tory  award  is  ever  made  by  the  Assembly,  the  evil  consequences  are 
extensive  and  numerous;  the  authority  and  respect  of  subordinate  judi 
catures  are  diminished ;  litigious  individuals  are  encouraged  to  persist 
in  an  evil  course ;  erroneous  principles  are  established  by  the  supreme 
tribunal  of  our  Church,  and  eventually  attachment  to,  and  respect  for, 
the  General  Assembly  are  enfeebled,  and  the  bond  of  union  among  our 
churches  is  weakened,  and  its  dissolution  threatened. 

"  Experience  has  taught  us  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  complaints 
and  appeals  on  which  the  General  Assembly  has  ultimately  decided,  had 
their  origin  from  church  Sessions.  In  all  such  cases,  if  the  proposed 
amendments  to  the  Constitution  should  be  adopted,  two  appeals  will  still 
remain, — one  to  the  Presbytery  and  the  other  to  the  Synod.  If  local 
feelings  may  be  supposed  in  some  cases  to  influence  a  Presbytery,  they 
seldom  if  ever  extend  to  a  whole  Synod ;  and  as  the  placing  of  the  last 
appeal  here  will  bring  controversies  to  a  more  speedy  issue  than  if  carried 
further,  the  most  formidable  objection  ever  made  to  the  discipline  of  our 
Church — that  it  occasions  delay  in  settling  disputes  and  ending  discord — 
will,  in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  be  removed. 

"If,  after  all,  a  decision,  manifestly  unconstitutional  or  unjust,  should 
be  made  by  a  Synod  in  the  case  of  a  complaint  or  an  appeal,  this  will 
of  course  appear  on  the  records,  will  probably  be  accompanied  by  a 
protest  or  dissent,  will  thus  attract  the  notice  of  the  committee  of  the 
Assembly  appointed  to  review  the  book,  will  by  that  committee  be  re 
ported  to  the  house,  and  thus  a  full  opportunity  will  be  given  to  correct 
the  error. 

u  The  committee  moreover  recommend, 

"  Tthly.  That  in  the  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sect.  7,  the 
words  'publicly  read,'  should  be  exchanged  for  the  word  '  examined.' 
In  favor  of  this  amendment,  the  committee  stated,  that  probably  much 


590  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

time,  which  is  now  occupied  by  the  whole  Assembly  in  having  the  com 
missions  publicly  read,  might  be  saved,  and  stricter  order  be  observed, 
by  the  adoption  of  rules  of  the  following  import :  that  immediately  after 
the  opening  of  the  General  Assembly  and  the  constituting  of  the  house,  a 
Committee  of  Commissions  be  appointed,  with  instructions ;  and  that  the 
house  adjourn  till  the  usual  hour  in  the  afternoon.  That  the  Committee 
of  Commissions  be  instructed  to  examine  the  commissions,  and  report 
to  the  Assembly,  immediately  after  its  opening  in  the  afternoon,  on  those 
commissions  which  are  unobjectionable,  and  on  those,  if  such  there  be, 
which  are  materially  incorrect,  or  that  are  otherwise  objectionable.  That 
those  whose  commissions  are  unobjectionable,  immediately  take  their 
seats  as  members,  and  proceed  to  business ;  and  that  the  first  act  be  the 
appointment  of  a  Committee  of  Elections,  to  which  shall  be  referred  all 
the  informal,  or  otherwise  objectionable  commissions,  with  instructions 
to  report  thereon  as  soon  as  practicable. 

"The  committee  finally  recommend, 

"  Sthly.  That  the  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xiv,  sect.  6,  be  so 
altered  as  to  read  three  years  instead  of  two  years. 

"  It  is  believed  by  the  committee,  that  since  the  formation  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  year  1788,  a  change  has 
taken  place  in  the  state  of  this  Church  and  society  in  our  country  at 
large,  which  may  render  proper  a  change  in  the  period  during  which 
candidates  for  the  Gospel  ministry  should  be  required  to  study,  previously 
to  their  licensure  to  preach  the  Gospel.  Candidates  for  the  Gospel 
ministry  now  are  in  general  younger  than  such  candidates  were  thirty 
years  ago  j  there  are  more  facilities  for  education  ;  and  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge  and  increase  of  mental  improvement,  seem  to  demand  a 
correspondent  increase  of  ministerial  furniture,  in  those  who  preach  the 
Gospel.  For  these  reasons  the  committee  submit  that  in  their  appre 
hension  the  article  of  the  Constitution  which  directs  that  the  period  of 
two  years  of  previous  study  shall  be  indispensable  to  license,  may 
advantageously  be  increased  to  the  period  of  three  years,  except  in 
extraordinary  cases. 

"  Having  considered  and  approved  of  the  foregoing  eight  propositions, 
the  Assembly  resolved  that  they  be  transmitted  to  the  Presbyteries,  and 
said  Presbyteries  hereby  are  instructed  to  report  in  writing,  to  the  next 
General  Assembly,  their  adoption  or  rejection  of  the  alterations  and 
additions,  thus  proposed  to  be  made  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church/'— Minutes,  1826;  pp.  188-190. 


AMENDMENTS  TO  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT.          591 

5.  Answers  of  the  Presbyteries.  Chop.  XII,  Sect.  7,  of  Form  of  Govern 
ment  altered,  five  of  the  Six  Amendments  proposed  agreed  to  j  but 
the  alteration  is  not  made  bi/  the  Assembly. 

u  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  the  Committee 
on  the  Returns  of  the  Presbyteries,  in  relation  to  the  proposed  alterations 
and  amendments  of  the  Constitution,  that  they  might  report  what  ought 
to  be  done  in  consequence  of  the  state  of  these  returns,  made  the  follow 
ing  report,  viz.  :  That  there  are  connected  with  the  Assembly,  eighty- 
eight  Presbyteries;  forty-five,  therefore,  are  necessary  to  make  any 
alteration  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Church. 

"In  regard  to  the  proposed  erasure  of  the  4th  section  of  the  24th 
chapter  of  the  Confession  of  .Faith,  sixty-eight  Presbyteries  have  re 
ported  :  fifty  of  them  against  the  erasure,  and  eighteen  in  favor  of  it. 
The  section,  therefore,  is  not  to  be  erased.  [See  chap,  vii,  p.  241,  e,  for 
the  overture  alluded  to.] 

"  In  relation  to  No.  7  of  the  proposed  amendments  to  the  Form  of 
Government,  it  appears  that  jiffy-three  Presbyteries  have  voted  in  favor 
of  the  alteration  and  thirteen  against  it ;  wherefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  proposed  amendment,  viz. :  That  in  the  Form  of 
Government,  chap,  xii,  sect.  7,  the  words-  'publicly  read,'  should  be 
exchanged  for  the  word  'examined,'  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  adopted 
as  a  part  of  the  Constitution  of  this  Church. 

"  In  relation  to  No.  8,  thirty  Presbyteries  have  voted  in  favor  of  it, 
and  thirty-seven  against  it.  This  amendment,  therefore,  cannot  be 
adopted,  a  majority  of  the  Presbyteries  not  having  approved  of  it. 

"  In  relation  to  the  first  six  of  the  proposed  amendments  to  the  Form 
of  Government,*  the  committee  made  the  following  report,  which  was 
adopted,  viz. : 

"  That,  on  examining  the  proposed  amendments  to  the  Constitution, 
sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries  by  the  last  General  Assembly,  as  they 
stand  on  the  printed  Minutes,  page  37,  it  appears  that  the  whole  of 
them,  from  Nos.  1  to  6,  inclusive,  were  framed  with  such  reference  to 
each  other,  and  to  their  common  object,  as  that  they  ought  to  have 
been  either  adopted  or  rejected  altogether;  and  further,  that  the  Presby 
teries,  by  rejecting  the  sixthj  have  in  effect  defeated  the  very  end  which 
they  must  have  intended  to  secure  by  the  adoption  of  the  rest;  and  have 
otherwise  involved  the  whole  subject  in  difficulties,  which,  from  the 

*  Of  these.  No.  1  is  an  amendment  to  the  Form  of  Government,  and  Nos.  "2:  3. 
4,  5,  6,  are  amendments  to  the  Book  of  Discipline.  Digest,  p.  087. 


592  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

peculiar  nature  of  the  case,  it  is  but  fair  and  reasonable  to  suppose  they 
could  not  have  distinctly  designed  or  foreseen.  In  this  state  of  things 
your  committee  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following  resolution,  MS  in  their 
judgment  proper  to  be  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly,  viz. : 

"Whereas,  the  Presbyteries  having  failed  to  report  their  decisions  upon 
the  subject  of  the  proposed  amendments,  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  as  re 
corded  in  page  37  of  the  printed  Minutes  of  the  Assembly  of  last  year, 
in  the  full  and  distinct  manner  contemplated  in  the  overture  submitted 
by  that  Assembly,  the  General  Assembly  do  not  deem  it  desirable  to  re 
new  the  said  overture  at  the  present  time  :  Therefore,  Resolved,  That 
the  consideration  of  the  said  proposed  amendment  be  and  the  same  is 
hereby  indefinitely  postponed." — Minutes,  1827,  pp.  217,  218. 

6.  Proposal  to  reduce  the  ratio  of  Representation;  also,  to  make 
Representation  Si/nodical,  and  not  Presbyter iaL 

"  The  report  of  the  committee  on  Overture  No.  3,  viz.,  on  reducing 
the  ratio  of  representation  to  the  General  Assembly,  was  taken  up,  and 
after  mature  deliberation  and  amendment  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows, 
viz.  : 

"That  }Tour  committee,  having  attended  to  the  business  confided  to 
them,  and  read  the  various  documents  put  into  their  hands  from  several 
ecclesiastical  bodies  and  ministers  of  our  Church  on  the  subject,  and 
considered  at  large  the  different  methods  of  change  and  ratios  of  repre 
sentation  proposed,  have  come  with  great  unanimity  to  the  following 
result,  viz.  : 

"  1.  That  a  change  materially  reducing  the  present  representation,  by 
increasing  its  ratio,  is  expected  and  required  by  all,  and  proper  to  be 
attempted  at  the  present  Assembly. 

"2.  That  in  view  of  the  growing  number  of  our  members  and  minis 
ters,  amounting  already  to  more  than  twenty  Synods  and  a  hundred 
Presbyteries,  it  has  become  a  question  whether  the  form  of  representa 
tion,  as  well  as  the  ratio,  ought  not  to  be  changed,  and  the  Si/nodical 
form  substituted  for  the  Presbyter ial ;  that  is  to  say,  that  hereafter  the 
election  of  commissioners  to  the  General  Assembly  should  be  by  Synods 
and  not  by  Presbyteries. 

"  3.  That  both  questions  be  overtured  by  the  present  Assembly  to  the 
Presbyteries,  for  their  consideration  and  votes  on  each  distinctly,  so  as 
to  secure,  if  possible,  a  constitutional  result  at  the  next  Assembly,  fixing 
the  proper  changes ;  and  hence  the  committee  recommend  to  the  As 
sembly,  for  their  adoption,  the  following  form  of  overture  to  the  Pres- 


AMENDMENTS    TO    FORM    OF    GOVERNMENT.  593 

byteries,  viz.  :  That  every  Presbytery  be  required  to  decide  on  the  fol 
lowing  questions : 

"1.  Shall  the  form  of  representation  be  changed  from  Presbyterial  to 
Synodical  ? 

"  2.  If  so  changed,  shall  the  ratio  of  Synodical  representation,  omitting 
fractions,  be  one  minister  and  one  elder  for  every  twenty-five  ministers 
belonging  to  the  Synod,  with  the  privilege  of  nomination  in  the  Pres 
byteries  in  such  ratio  and  mode  as  each  Synod  may  adopt  ? 

"3.  If  not  changed  in  form,  shall  the  second  section  of  the  twelfth 
chapter  of  the  Form  of  Government  be  so  altered  as  to  read  as  follows, 
viz.  : 

"  The  General  Assembly  shall  consist  of  an  equal  delegation  of  bishops 
and  elders  from  each  Presbytery  in  the  following  proportion,  viz. :  each 
Presbytery  consisting  of  riot  more  than  twenty-four  ministers  shall  send 
one  minister  and  one  elder,  and  each  Presbytery  consisting  of  more  than 
twenty-four  ministers  shall  send  two  ministers  and  two  elders,  and  in 
the  like  proportion  for  every  twenty-four  ministers  in  every  Presbytery; 
and  these  delegates  so  appointed  shall  be  styled  Commissioners  to  the 
General  Assembly."— Minutes,  1832,  p.  370. 

[For  action  on  these  proposals,  see  8,  on  next  page.] 

7.   Proposal  of  an  Overture  in  reference  to  calling  Special  Meetings 

of  Synod. 

''Resolved,  That  the  following  rule  be  sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries 
for  their  consideration  and  decision ;  and  they  are  hereby  required  to 
send  up  their  decision  respectively  in  writing  to  the  next  General  As 
sembly,  whether  the  same  shall  become  a  constitutional  rule  or  not,  viz. : 

"  When  any  emergency  shall  require  a  meeting  of  the  Synod  sooner 
than  the  time  to  which  it  stands  adjourned,  the  Moderator,  or,  in 
case  of  his  absence,  death,  or  inability  to  act,  the  Stated  Clerk  shall, 
with  the  concurrence  or  at  the  request  of  three  ministers  and  three 
elders,  the  ministers  and  elders  being  of  at  least  two  different  Presby 
teries,  call  a  special  meeting.  For  this  purpose,  he  shall  send  a  circular 
letter,  specifying  the  particular  business  of  the  intended  meeting,  to 
every  minister  belonging  to  the  Synod,  and  to  the  Session  (if  practicable) 
of  every  vacant  congregation ;  and  between  the  time  of  issuing  the 
letters  of  convocation  and  the  time  of  meeting  shall  elapse  at  least 
twenty  days ;  and  nothing  shall  be  transacted  at  such  special  meetings 

38 


594  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

besides  the  particular  business  for  which  the  judicatory  has  been  con 
vened.  It  shall  also  be  the  duty  of  the  Moderator  to  cause  notice  to  be 
given  in  the  public  prints  of  the  time  and  place  of  such  intended  meet 
ing  of  the  Synod/'— Minutes,  1832,  p.  372. 

8.  Reports  of  the  Presbyteries  on  these  Alterations.      The  Ratio  of 
Representation  altered. 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  receive  the  returns  from  the  Presbyte 
ries,  on  the  proposed  alterations  in  the  Constitution,  and  to  state  the 
results,  made  the  following  report,  which  was  adopted,  viz.  : 

"There  are  one  hundred  and  eleven  Presbyteries,  of  which  fifty-six  are 
requisite  to  authorize  any  alteration  of  the  Constitution  ',  forty-six  appear 
to  have  voted  for,  and  seventeen  against,  the  proposed  article  relative  to 
the  calling  of  special  meetings  of  Synod,  which  proposed  amendment 
is  of  course  not  adopted.* 

"  That  twenty  Presbyteries  have  voted  in  favor  of  a  Synodical  repre 
sentation,  in  the  General  Assembly  ;  and  that  sixty-seven  Presbyteries 
have  voted  in  favor  of  the  proposed  increase  in  the  ratio  of  Presbyterial 
representation.  Three  Presbyteries  have  voted  against  any  change,  and 
one  for  such  an  alteration  as  the  Assembly  has  never  proposed. 

"  The  committee  therefore  recommend  that  the  Assembly,  in  con 
formity  with  the  authority  thus  constitutionally  intrusted  to  them,  should 
adopt  the  following  minute,  viz. : 

"Resolved,  that  the  2d  section  of  the  12th  chapter  of  the  Form  of 
Government  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  so  amended  as  to  read  thus  : 
"The  General  Assembly  shall  consist  of  an  equal  delegation  of  bishops 
and  elders  from  each  Presbytery,  in  the  following  proportion,  viz.:  each 
Presbytery  consisting  of  not  more  than  twenty-four  ministers  shall  send 
one  minister  and  one  elder;  and  each  Presbytery  consisting  of  more  than 
twenty-four  ministers  shall  send  two  ministers  and  two  elders,  and  in  like 
proportion  for  every  twenty-four  ministers  in  every  Presbytery;  and  these 
delegates  so  appointed  shall  be  styled  Commissioners  to  the  General  As 
sembly."— Minutes,  1833,  pp.  400,  401. 

[In  1826,  the  ratio  had  been  increased  from  nine  and  eighteen,  as 
fixed  in  1821,  to  twelve  and  twenty-four. — Minutes,  p.  168.  See  chap, 
v,  sec.  4,  p.  158.] 

*  This  overture  was  again  sent  down,  but  a  majority  failed,  to  report,  and  it 
was  dropped. — Minutes,  1831,  p.  429. 


AMENDMENTS  TO  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT.          595 

9.  Proposal  to  limit  the  appellate  Jurisdiction -of  the  Assembly. 

a.  "The  Assembly  took  up  the  report  of  the  Committee  to  examine 
the  reports  of  the  Presbyteries  respecting  certain  changes  of  the  Con 
stitution  overtured  by  the  last  two  General  Assemblies." — [See  Minutes, 
1835,  p.  475 ;  1836,  pp.  247,  274.]     And  it  was 

"Resolved,  That  the  following  overture  be  sent  down  to  ajl  the  Pres 
byteries,  for  their  adoption  or  rejection,  viz. : 

"Resolved,  That  so  much  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Church  as  em 
powers  the  General  Assembly  to  issue  appeals,  complaints,  and  refe 
rences,  brought  before  them  from  the  lower  judicatories,  except  in  cases 
of  charges  against  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  for  error  or  heresy,  and  of 
procGSs  commencing  in  the  Synods,  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  so 
amended,  that  hereafter  the  Synods,  except  in  the  cases  above  men 
tioned,  be  the  judicatories  of  the  last  resort." — Minutes,  1837,  p.  497. 

b.  "  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  reports  of  the  Presby 
teries  in  relation  to  an  overture  sent  down  by  the  last  Assembly  (p.  497, 
Minutes),  proposing  a  change  of  the  Constitution,  so  as  to  make  Synods, 
in  the  cases  proposed,  the  judicatories  of  last  resort,  reported  that  the 
following  twenty  Presbyteries,  viz.,  Newark,  Marion,  Peoria,  Third  New 
York,   Athens,   Columbia,   Oneida,   Cayuga,    Delaware,    Crawfordsville, 
Wilmington,  Onondaga,  Portage,   Newburyport,  Detroit,  Monroe,  Cin 
cinnati,  St.  Louis,  Otsego,  and  Sangamon  have  reported  in  favor  of  the 
proposed  change;  and  that  two  Presbyteries,  viz.,  St.  Charles  and  Clinton, 
have  reported  against  the  proposed  change. 

"As  only  a  minority  of  the  Presbjteries  had  sent  up  their  answer  to 
this  Assembly,  it  was  ordered  that  the  same  overture  be  again  sent  down 
to  all  the  Presbyteries,  and  that  they  be  earnestly  requested  to  send  their 
answers  to  the  next  Assembly." — Minutes,  1838,  p.  656. 

c.  "  The  answers  of  Presbyteries  to  the  overture  sent  down  by  the  last 
Assembly  (Minutes,  p.  656),  in  reference  to  stopping  appeals,  in  ordi 
nary  cases,  at  the  Synods,  were  called  for,  and  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  the  State  of  the  Church."— Minutes,  1839,  p.  12. 

10.   Proposals  to  stop  Appeals  at  the  Synod ;   to  hold  the  Assembly  Tri- 
ennially  ;  and  to  authorize  pro  re  nata  Meetings  of  the  Assembly. 

"The  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Church  having  had  before  them 
sundry  petitions  and  memorials  requesting  a  modification  of  our  present 


596  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

ecclesiastical  organization,  recommend  that  the  following  overtures  be 
sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries  for  their  action  : 

"  1.  Shall  the  Constitution  be  so  amended  as  to  limit  the  power  of  the 
General  Assembly,  arid  make  the  Synods  in  all  cases  the  courts  of  ulti 
mate  appeal  and  final  authoritative  jurisdiction,  and  the  General  Assem 
bly  an  advisory  council  for  all  the  churches  ? 

"  2.  Shall  the  Constitution  be  so  amended  as  to  require  the  General 
Assembly  to  hold  its  sessions  triennially,  as  a  bond  of  union  between  the 
churches,  retaining  its  present  functions,  with  the  exceptions  specified 
in  the  first  overture  ? 

"3.  Shall  the  last  moderator  and  the  stated  and  permanent  clerks  be 
empowered  to  call  a  pro  re  nata  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly,  in 
case  of  any  emergency  which,  in  their  opinion,  solemnly  demands  such 
meeting:  providing  that  four  full  months  shall  intervene  between  the 
call  and  the  time  of  holding  such  meeting? 

"  The  committee  further  recommend  that,  should  the  Presbyteries 
agree  to  the  amendments  above  proposed,  the  next  General  Assembly 
make  the  arrangement  of  Synods,  and  fix  the  ratio  of  representation  best 
adapted  to  the  organization  of  the  Church,  as  thus  modified.  The  plan 
which  best  commends  itself  to  the  minds  of  the  committee  is  substan 
tially  that  proposed,  in  the  year  1832,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander,  and 
published  in  the  Princeton  Biblical  Piepertory,  vol.  iv,  of  the  New  Series, 
pp.  28-47."— Minutes,  1839,  p.  27. 

11.  Answers  of  the  Presbyteries,  affirming  the  proposed  Amendments 
Alterations  in  the  Constitution  made  in  accordance. 

"  The  Committee  [on  Polity]  report : 

"  1.  That  the  overtures  sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries  by  the  Assem 
bly  of  1839  have  been  affirmed  in  the  responses,  all  three  of  them  : 
there  being  59  affirmatives  for  the  first  overture;  57  for  the  second; 
and  for  the  third,  44. 

"The  whole  number  of  our  Presbyteries  last  year  was  85 ;  of  which, 
consequently,  the  lowest  majority  is  43  ;  and  this  number  the  committee 
have  therefore  assumed  as  their  criterion  of  the  majority,  according  to 
the  words  of  the  Constitution.  See  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii, 
sec.  0. 

"2.  That  the  paragraph  appended  to  the  overtures  having  been  also 
affirmed  by  49  votes,  the  committee  have  digested  their  results  accord- 


AMENDMENTS  TO  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT.          597 

ingly,  and  recommend  that  the  Assembly  now  rule  and  ordain  the  fol 
lowing  changes  in  the  polity  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  these  United 
States,  viz.  : 

"(1.)  That  the  ratio  of  Presbyterial  representation  be  reduced  to  its 
minimum,  altering  our  Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  2,  so  that 
said  section  shall  be  hereafter  alone  and  in  all,  and  read  as  follows,  viz. : 
The  General  Assembly  shall  consist  of  an  equal  delegation  of  bishops 
and  ruling  elders  from  the  Presbyteries,  in  the  simple  proportion  of  one 
minister  and  one  elder  from  each  Presbytery;  and  these  commissioners 
so  appointed  shall  be  styled,  'Commissioners  to  the  General  Assembly.'  " 
[See  chap,  v,  sec.  4,  p.  159.] 

"(2.)  That  Section  7  of  the  same  chapter  (xii)  be  so  altered  in  its 
first  sentence  as  to  reed  as  follows,  viz. :  l  The  General  Assembly  shall 
meet  triennially,  or  once  in  three  years,  and  ordinarily  on  the  third 
Thursday  of  the  month  of  May  in  every  third  year. 

"(3.)  That  Section  8  of  the  same  be  so  practically  modified,  and 
every  other  part  and  provision  of  the  Constitution  with  it  conformably, 
that  the  present  changes,  as  hereinabove  specified,  shall  be  maintained 
inviolate,  and  shall  go  into  full  force  and  operation  as  the  Constitution 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America." — 
Minutes,  1840,  pp.  16,  17. 

12.  Pi-oposal  to  return  to  Annual  Assemblies,  and  to  restore  Appellate 
Power  to  the  Assembly,  so  far  as  it  respects  Ministers. 

a.  "  Ordered,  on  motion  of  the  Rev.  S.  Haynes,  that  the  following 
overture  be  sent  down  to  the  several  Presbyteries  for  their  action,  and 
that  they  report  to  the  meeting  of  this  Assembly  in  1847  :  '  Shall  the 
Form  of  Government,  chap,  xii,  sec.  7,  be  so  altered  as  to  require  the 
General  Assembly  to  hold  its  sessions  annually  instead  of  triennial!!/, 
retaining  its  present  functions/' — Minutes,  1846,  p.  30. 

"The  Committee  on  Church  Polity  presented  a  report  recommending 
that  the  following  overture  be  sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries  for  their 
action  :  l  Shall  appellate  power  be  restored  to  the  Assembly,  so  far  as 
respects  ministers?'  And  the  report  was  adopted." — Minutes,  184G, 
p.  85. 

13.    The  Proposals  more  clearly  defined.     Revision  of  the  Standards 
committed  to  a  Committee. 

"  The  following  resolution  was  adopted  : 

"Whereas,  there  is  a  doubt  about  the  propriety  of  the  forms  of  over- 


598  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

tures  submitted  to  the  Presbyteries  by  this  Assembly,  at  its  sessions  in 
Philadelphia ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  Presbyteries  be  requested  to  forward  their  reply 
to  them  in  the  following  form  : 

"  1.  Shall  Section  7th  of  Chapter  xi,  Form  of  Government,  be  altered 
so  as  to  read  'annually/  instead  of  <  triennially  ?' 

"  2.  Shall  the  first  sentence  of  Section  7th  of  Chapter  xii,  Form  of 
Government,  be  altered  so  as  to  read,  '  The  General  Assembly  shall 
meet  at  least  once  in  every  year/  or  shall  it  read,  f  The  General  Assem 
bly  shall  meet  at  least  once  in  every  third  year  ?' 

"  3.  Shall  paragraph  2d  of  Chapter  vii,  Book  of  Discipline,  be  altered 
so  as,  after  the  word  f  Synod/  to  insert  the  words,  '  except  in  cases  af 
fecting  the  character  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel  ?' 

"4.  Shall  paragraph  2d  of  Section  3  of  Chapter  vii,  Book  of  Disci 
pline,  be  altered  so  as  to  prefix  to  it  the  words,  l  All  appeals,  except  in 
cases  affecting  the  character  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  shall  terminate 
with  the  Synod  V  and 

"  5.  Shall  paragraph  4th,  of  Section  4  of  Chapter  vii,  Book  of  Disci 
pline,  be  altered  so  as  to  annex  to  it  the  words,  'And  all  complaints  shall 
terminate  with  the  Synods,  except  in  cases  affecting  the  character  of 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  ?' 

lt  On  motion  of  Rev.  I.  In  graham,  it  was 

"Resolved,  unanimously,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  tlie 
Constitution,  as  contained  in  the  book  which  is  now  authenticated  to  the 
churches,  is  authoritative  and  binding,  until  it  shall  be  regularly  amended 
by  proper  overtures  submitted  to  the  Presbyteries. 

"  The  remainder  of  the  report  on  the  revision  of  the  standards  was 
recommitted,  with  instructions  to  report  to  the  next  Assembly." — 
Minutes,  1847,  pp.  148,  149. 

14.    The  Overtures  1  and  2  respecting  Annual  Assemblies  adopted. 
Overtures  3,  4,  and  5  on  Appeals  negatived, 

"The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church  reported  on  the  subject 
of  the  overtures  sent  down  by  the  last  Assembly : 

"That  it  appears  from  the  roll  that  there  are  one  hundred  and  four 
Presbyteries  connected  with  the  Assembly;  of  which  fifty-three  are  a 
majority;  that  eighty -one  Presbyteries  have  sent  in  their  answers  to  the 
overtures,  and  twenty-three  have  not. 


AMENDMENTS   TO    FORM    OF    GOVERNMENT.  599 

"  That  to  the  first  and  second  overtures,  which  respect  the  return  to 
Annual  Assemblies,  sixty-three  Presbyteries  have  answered  in  the  affir 
mative,  and  twenty-six  have  answered  in  the  negative. 

"  These  overtures  are  affirmed,  and  the  Constitution  is  changed  ac 
cordingly,  viz.  : 

li  1.  Section  7  of  Chapter  xi,*  Form  of  Government,  is  altered,  so 
as  to  read  'annually'  instead  of  { triennially.' 

"  2.  The  first  sentence  of  Section  7  of  Chapter  xii,  Form  of  Go 
vernment,  is  so  altered  as  to  read:  'The  General  Assembly  shall  meet 
at  least  once  in  every  year/  instead  of  '  The  General  Assembly  shall 
meet  at  least  triennially,  or  once  in  every  third  year/ 

"  To  the  overtures  Nos.  8,  4,  and  5,  pertaining  to  appeals  in  the  case 
of  ministers,  forty  Presbyteries  have  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and 
forty-seven  Presbyteries  have  answered  in  the  negative. 

"  The  changes  proposed  by  these  overtures  are,  therefore,  not 
adopted." — Minutes,  1849,  p.  175. 

15.  Report  on  Changes  of  tlie  Constitution.     Proposal  to  Restore  it,  as 
in  1840.      Overtures  sent  down. 

In  1849,  the  following  paper  was  adopted  in  reference  to  the  changes 
made  in  the  Constitution  : 

"  Whereas,  this  General  Assembly  has  ascertained,  as  is  fully  set 
forth  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Revision  of  the  Standards 
(which  is  hereby  directed  to  be  published  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Mi 
nutes),  that  the  alterations  made  in  the  Constitutional  Rules,  by  a  Com 
mittee  of  the  Assembly  of  1840,  were  made  in  a  manner  so  irregular 
and  unconstitutional  as  to  occasion  great  doubt  and  perplexity  as  to  their 
authenticity ; 

"And  whereas,  one  of  the  three  overtures  on  which  these  alterations 
were  based,  relating  to  the  frequency  of  the  meetings  of  the  General. 
Assembly,  has  now  been  constitutionally  reversed  : 

"And  whereas,  serious  doubt  has  been  expressed  as  to  the  passage  of 
the  third  overture  of  the  Assembly  of  1839  ;  and  the  occasion  for  its 
passage  has  now  been  taken  away  by  the  restoration  of  annual  assem 
blies  : 

"And  whereas,  a  change  in  the  basis  of  representation  in  General 
Assembly,  as  established  in  a  constitutional  manner  by  the  Assembly  of 

*  This  refers  to  the  Book  as  altered  in  1840.  Section  7  is  Section  6  of  the  pre 
sent  Book. 


600  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

1833,  has  never  been  submitted  to  the  Presbyteries  and  constitutionally 
adopted  : 

"  Therefore,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  wishes  of  the  Presbyteries  more 
clearly  and  fully,  as  to  the  expediency  of  restoring  the  Constitution  to 
its  condition  previous  to  1840,  and,  if  this  be  thought  inexpedient,  in 
order  to  incorporate  the  principles  then  introduced  in  a  perfectly  regular 
and  constitutional  manner : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Book  be  restored  to  the  form  in  which  it  was 
published  previous  to  the  year  1840,  and  that  the  following  overtures 
be  submitted  to  the  Presbyteries  : 

"  I.  LIMITATION  OF  APPEAL. 

"  1.  Shall  Form  of  Government,  chapter  xii,  section  4,  be  altered  so 
as  to  omit  the  words  'appeals  and/  before  the  word  'references?' 

"2.  Shall  Book  of  Discipline,  chapter  vii,  section  2,  be  altered  so  as 
to  insert  the  words  l  the  General  Assembly  and  the  Synod  in  judicial 
cases/  instead  of  the  words  '  the  highest  ?' 

"  3.  Shall  Book  of  Discipline,  chapter  vii,  section  3,  subsec.  2,  be 
altered  so  as  to  read,  (  any  judicatory  not  higher  than  a  Synod/  instead 
of  f  a  higher  judicatory  ?' 

"4.  Shall  Book  of  Discipline,  chapter  vii,  section  4,  subsec.  1,  be 
altered  so  as  to  read,  '  any  judicatory  inferior  to  a  Synod/  instead  of 
'  an  inferior  judicatory  ?' 

"II.  PRO  RE  NATA  ASSEMBLIES. 

"5.  In  Form  of  Government,  chapter  xii,  shall  a  new  section  be  in 
troduced  after  section  7,  as  follows  :  '  VIII.  The  last  moderator  and  the 
stated  and  permanent  clerks  are  empowered  to  call  &  pro  re  nata  meet 
ing  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  case  of  any  emergency,  which,  in  their 
opinion,  demands  such  a  meeting,  by  circular  letter,  addressed  to  each 
of  the  Presbyteries,  at  least  four  months  before  the  time  of  holding  such 
meeting  ?' — and  the  subsequent  section  be  numbered  ix  instead  of  viii  ? 

"  III.  REPRESENTATION  IN  ASSEMBLY. 

"  6.  Shall  Form  of  Government,  chapter  xii,  section  2,  be  altered  so 
as  to  read  :  '  The  General  Assembly  shall  consist  of  an  equal  delegation 
of  bishops  and  elders,  one  from  each  Presbytery;  and  these  delegates  so 
appointed,  shall  be  styled  Commissioners  to  the  General  Assembly. 


AMENDMENTS   TO   FORM   OF   GOVERNMENT.  601 

"  Resolved  further,  That  till  an  expression  of  the  will  of  the  Presby 
teries  in  regard  to  these  overtures  be  obtained,  it  be  understood  that  all 
appeals  and  complaints  shall  terminate  with  the  Synods,  and  that  the 
basis  of  representation  in  the  Assembly  shall  be  the  same  as  at  present." 
—Minutes,  1849,  pp.  183,  184. 

[See  Appendix  to  Minutes,  pp.  195-212.] 


16.    These  Overtures  rejected  and  the  Constitution  restored  as  before  the 

Division. 

"  The  Committee  on  the  Polity  of  the  Church  made  a  report  in  refer 
ence  to  the  l  Answers  of  Presbyteries  to  the  overtures  sent  down  by  the 
last  Assembly,'  which  was  adopted,  and  is  as  follows : 

"  It  appears  from  the  roll,  that  there  are  one  hundred  and  two  Pres 
byteries  connected  with  the  Assembly;  that  eighty-seven  Presbyteries 
have  sent  up  their  answers  to  the  first  three  overtures,  on  the  subject 
of  the  t  Limitation  of  Appeals,'  and  fifteen  have  not ;  and  that  of  these, 
thirty  Presbyteries  have  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  fifty-seven 
Presbyteries  have  answered  in  the  negative. 

"  That  to  the  fourth  overture,  on  the  subject  of  '  Complaints,'  the 
answers  vary  only  by  the  addition  of  the  Presbytery  of  Pataskala  to  the 
number  of  those  answering  in  the  negative ;  thus  making  the  number 
of  Presbyteries  replying  in  the  affirmative  to  this  overture,  twenty-nine; 
and  in  the  negative,  fifty-eight. 

"That  to  the  fifth  overture,  on  the  subject  of  ' Pro  re  nata  Meetings 
of  the  Assembly/  eighty-six  Presbyteries  have  sent  answers,  the  same  as 
have  replied  to  the  other  overtures,  with  the  exception  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Newark  ;  and  that  of  these  only  three  Presbyteries  have  answered  in 
the  affirmative,  viz.,  Champlain,  Erie,  and  Hanover;  the  remaining 
eighty-three  having  answered  in  the  negative. 

"That  to  the  sixth  overture,  on  the  subject  of  the  'Ratio  of  Repre 
sentation  in  the  Assembly,'  answers  have  been  returned  by  eighty-four 
Presbyteries,  the  same  as  before,  with  the  exception  of  the  Presbyteries 
of  Newark,  Grand  River,  and  Huron ;  and  that  of  these,  twenty-eight 
Presbyteries  have  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  fifty-six  Presbyteries 
have  answered  the  same  overture  in  the  negative.  The  Assembly  there 
fore  declares  that  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  Presbyteries  has 
decided  against  each  and  all  of  the  proposed  changes  in  the  Constitution. 


602  XIIT. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

The  Book  therefore  remains  as  in  1840 ;  or,  as  it  was  before  the  divi 
sion  of  the  church/'— Minutes,  1850,  pp.  317,  318. 

NOTE. — The  amendments  made  or  proposed  have  never  affected  the 
Confession  of  Faith  proper,  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  or  the 
Directory  for  Worship.  These  remain,  word  for  word  and  letter  for 
letter,  as  they  were  adopted  at  the  formation  of  the  Assembly  in  1788. 


SECTION  7. — RULES  FOR  JUDICATORIES.* 

[See  page  172  for  Amendments.] 

1.  The  moderator  shall  take  the  chair  precisely  at  the  hour  to  which 
the  judicatory  stands  adjourned ;  shall  immediately  call  the  members  to 
order  \  and,  on  the  appearance  of  a  quorum,  shall  open  the  session  with 
prayer. 

2.  If  a  quorum  be  assembled  at  the  hour  appointed,  and  the  mode 
rator  be  absent,  the  last  moderator  present  shall  be  requested  to  take  his 
place  without  delay. 

3.  If  a  quorum  be   not  assembled   at  the  hour  appointed,  any  two 
members  shall  be  competent  to  adjourn,  from  time  to  time,  that  an  oppor 
tunity  may  be  given  for  a  quorum  to  assemble. 

4.  After  calling  the  roll,  and  marking  the  absentees,  the  minutes  of 
the  last  sitting  shall  be  read,  and,  if  requisite,  corrected. 

5.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  moderator  at  all  times  to  preserve  order, 
and  to  endeavor  to  conduct  all  business  before  the  judicatory  to  a  speedy 
and  proper  result. 

6.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  clerk,  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  com 
mencement  of  the  sessions  of  every  judicatory,  to  form  a  complete  roll 
of  the  members  present,  and  put  the  same  into  the  hands  of  the  mode 
rator.     And  it  shall  also  be  the  duty  of  the  clerk,  whenever  any  addi 
tional  members  take  their  seats,  to  add  their   names,  in  their  proper 
places,  to  the  said  roll. 

~k  The  following  rules  not  having  been  submitted  to  the  Presbyteries,  make  no 
part  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Yet  the  General  Assembly  of 
IS'21,  considering  uniformity  in  proceedings  in  all  the  subordinate  judicatories  as 
greatly  conducive  to  order  and  dispatch  of  business,  and  having  revised  and  ap 
proved  these  rules,  recommend  them  to  the  Synods,  Presbyteries,  and  Sessions  as 
a  system  of  regulations  which,  if  they  think  proper,  may  be  advantageously  adopted 
by  them. 


RULES    FOR   JUDICATORIES.  603 

7.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  clerk  immediately  to  file  all  papers  in 
the  order  in  which  they  have  been  read,  with  proper  indorsements,  and 
to  keep  them  in  perfect  order. 

8.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  moderator  carefully  to  keep  notes  of  the 
several  articles  of  business  which  may  be  assigned  to  particular  days,  and 
to  call  them  up  at  the  time  appointed. 

9.  The  moderator  may  speak  to  points  of  order  in  preference  to  other 
members,  rising  from  his  seat  for  that  purpose;  and  shall  decide  ques 
tions  of  order,  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  judicatory  by  any  two  mem 
bers. 

10.  Business  left  unfinished  at  the  last  sitting  is,  ordinarily,  to  be 
taken  up  first. 

11.  A  motion  made  must  be  seconded,  and  afterwards  repeated  by  the 
moderator,  or  read  aloud  before  it  is  debated ;  and  every  motion  shall  be 
reduced  to  writing,  if  the  moderator  or  any  member  require  it. 

12.  Any  member  who  shall  have  made  a  motion,  shall  have  liberty  to 
withdraw  it,  with  the  consent  of  his  second,  before  any  debate  has  taken 
place  thereon,  but  not  afterwards,  without  the  leave  of  the  judicatory. 

13.  On  questions  of  order,  adjournment,  postponement,  or  commit 
ment,  no  member  shall  speak  more  than  once.     On  all  other  questions, 
each  member  may  speak  twice,  but  not  oftener,  without  express  leave  of 
the  judicatory. 

14.  When  a  question  is   under  debate,  no  motion  shall  be  received 
unless  to  amend  it,  to  commit  it,  to  postpone  it  for  the  previous  ques 
tion,  or  to  adjourn. 

15.  An  amendment  may  be  moved  on  any  motion,  and  shall  be  decided 
before  the  original  motion. 

16.  If  a  motion  under  debate  contains  several  parts,  any  two  members 
may  have  it  divided,  and  a  question  taken  on  each  part. 

IT.  The  previous  question  shall  be  put  in  this  form  :  Shall  the  main 
question  be  now  put  ?  It  shall  only  be  admitted  when  demanded  by  a 
majority  of  the  members  present;  and  its  effect  shall  be  to  put  an  end 
to  all  debate,  and  bring  the  body  to  a  direct  vote ;  first,  on  a  motion  to 
commit  the  subject  under  consideration  (if  such  motion  shall  have 
been  made);  secondly  (if  the  motion  to  commit  does  not  prevail),  on 
pending  amendments ;  and,  lastly,  upon  the  main  question. 

18.  The  call  for  the  previous  question  shall  not  be  debatable. 

19.  A  question  shall  not  be   again  called  up  or  reconsidered  at  the 
same  sessions  of  the  judicatory  at  which  it  has  been  decided,  unless  by 


604  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

the  consent  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  who  were  present  at  the  de 
cision  ;  and  unless  the  motion  to  reconsider  be  made  and  seconded  by 
persons  who  voted  with  the  majority. 

20.  A  subject  which  has  been  indefinitely  postponed,  either  by  the 
operation  of  the  previous  question  or  by  a  direct  motion  for  indefinite 
postponement,  shall  not  be  again  called  up  during  the  same  sessions  of 
the  judicatory,  unless  by  the  consent  of  three-fourths  of  the  members 
who  were  present  at  the  decision. 

21.  Every  member,  when  speaking,  shall  address  himself  to  the  mo 
derator,  and  shall  treat  his  fellow-members,  and  especially  the  moderator, 
with  decorum  and  respect.     Nor  shall  members   address  one  another, 
nor  any  person  present,  but  through  the  moderator. 

22.  Without  express  permission,  no   member  of  a  judicatory,  while 
business  is  going  on,  shall  engage  in  private  conversation. 

23.  No  speaker  shall  be  interrupted  unless  he  be  out  of  order,  or  for 
the  purpose  of  correcting  mistakes  or  misrepresentations. 

24.  It  is    indispensable  that  members    of  ecclesiastical  judicatories 
maintain  great  gravity  and  dignity  while  judicially  convened;  that  they 
attend  closely  in  their  speeches  to  the  subject  under  consideration,  and 
avoid  prolix  and  desultory  harangues ;  and,  when  they  deviate  from  the 
subject,  it  is  the  privilege  of  any  member  and   the   duty  of  the  mode 
rator  to  call  them  to  order. 

25.  No  member  in  the  course  of  debate  shall  be  allowed  to  indulge  in 
personal  reflections. 

26.  If  more  than  one  member  rise   to  speak  at  the  same  time,  the 
member  who  is  most  distant  from  the  moderator's  chair  shall  speak  first. 

27.  When  more  than  three  members  of  the  judicatory  shall  be  stand 
ing  at  the  same  time,  the  moderator  shall  require  all  to  take  their  seats, 
the  person  only  excepted  who  may  be  speaking. 

28.  If  any  member  act  in  any  respect  in  a  disorderly  manner,  it  shall 
be  the  privilege  of  any  member  and  the  duty  of  the  moderator  to  call 
him  to  order. 

29.  If  any  member  consider  himself  as  aggrieved  by  a  decision  of 
the  moderator,  it  shall  be  his  privilege  to  appeal  to  the  judicatory;  and 
the  question  on  such  appeal  shall  be  taken  without  debate. 

30.  Members  ought  not,  without  weighty  reasons,  to  decline  voting,  as 
this  practice  might  leave  the  decision  of  very  interesting  questions  to  a 
small   proportion   of  the  judicatory.     Silent   members,  unless  excused 
from  voting,  must  be  considered  as  acquiescing  with  the  majority. 


RULES    FOR   JUDICATORIES.  605 

31.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  moderator  to  appoint  all  committees,  except 
in  those  cases  in  which  the  judicatory  shall  decide  otherwise. 

32.  The  person  first  named  on  any  committee  shall  be  considered  as 
the  chairman  thereof,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  convene  the  committee; 
and,  in  case  of  his  absence  or  inability  to  act,  the  second  named  member 
shall  take  his  place  and  perform  his  duties. 

33.  When  various  motions  are  made,  with  respect  to  the  filling  of 
blanks  with   particular   numbers  or  times,  the  question  shall  always  be 
first  taken  on  the  highest  number  and  the  longest  time. 

34.  When  the  moderator  has  commenced  taking  the  vote,  no  further 
debate  or  remark  shall  be  admitted,  unless  there  has  evidently  been  a 
mistake;  in  which  case,  the  mistake  shall  be  rectified,  and  the  moderator 
shall  recommence  taking  the  vote. 

35.  When  a  vote  is  taken  by  ballot  in  any  judicatory,  the  moderator 
shall  vote  with  the  other  members;  but  he  shall  not  vote  in  any  other 
case  unless  the  judicatory  be  equally  divided  ;  when,  if  he  do  not  choose 
to  vote,  the  question  shall  be  lost. 

36.  The  yeas  and  nays  on  any  question  shall  not  be  recorded,  unless 
it  be  required  by  one-third  of  the  members  present. 

37.  All  judicatories  have  a  right  to  sit  in  private  on  business  which, 
in  their  judgment,  ought  not  to  be  matter  of  public  speculation. 

38.  Besides  the  right  to  sit  judicially  in  private,  whenever  they  think 
it  right  to  do  so,  all  judicatories  have  a  right  to  hold  what  are  commonly 
called  "  interlocutory  meetings,"  or  a  sort  of  committees  of  the  whole 
judicatory,  in  which  members  may  freely  converse  together  without  the 
formalities  which  are  usually  necessary  in  judicial  proceedings. 

39.  Whenever  a  judicatory  is  about  to  sit  in  a  judicial   capacity,  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  moderator  solemnly  to  announce  from  the  chair 
that  the  body  is  about  to  pass  to  the  consideration  of  the  business  as 
signed  for  trial ;  and  to  enjoin  on  the  members  to  recollect  and  regard 
their  high  character,  as  judges  of  a  court  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  so 
lemn  duty  in  which  they  are  about  to  act. 

40.  In  all  process  before  a  judicatory,  where  there  is  an  accuser  or 
prosecutor,  it  is  expedient  that  there  be  a  committee  of  the  judicatory 
appointed  (provided  the  number  of  members  be  sufficient  to  admit  of  it 
without  inconvenience),  who  shall  be  called   the  Judicial   Committee  ; 
and  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  digest  and  arrange  all  the  papers,  and  to 
prescribe,  under  the  direction  of  the  judicatory,  the  whole  order  of  the 
proceedings.     The  members  of  this  committee  shall  be  entitled,  not- 


606  XIII. — MISCELLANEOUS. 

withstanding  their  performance  of  this  duty,  to  sit  and  vote  in  the  cause 
as  members  of  the  judicatory. 

41.  But  in  cases  of  process  on  the  ground  of  general  rumor,  where 
there  is,  of  course,  no  particular  accuser,  there  may  be  a  committee  ap 
pointed  (if  convenient)  who  shall  be  called  the  Committee  of  Prosecu 
tion,  and  who  shall  conduct  the  whole  cause  on  the  part  of  the  prosecu 
tion.     The  members  of  this  committee  shall  not  be  permitted  to  sit  in 
judgment  in  the  case. 

42.  No  member  shall  retire  from  any  judicatory  without  the  leave  of 
the  moderator,  nor  withdraw  from  it  to  return  home  without  the  consent 
of  the  judicatory. 

43.  The  moderator  of  every  judicatory  above  the  church  Session,  in 
finally  closing  its  sessions,'  in  addition  to  prayer  may  cause  to  be  sung  an 
appropriate  psalm  or  hymn,  and  shall  pronounce  the  apostolic  benediction. 


APPENDIX. 


LEGAL    DECISIONS. 

New  Trial  Accorded. 

After  the  verdict  of  the  jury  in  favor  of  the  plaintiffs  (given  in  con 
nection  with  the  charge  of  Judge  Rogers,  upon  page  530)  a  motion 
for  a  new  trial  was  made  on  the  behalf  of  the  defendants  (the  "  Old 
School"  body),  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  in  bane,  and 
on  May  8th,  1839,  Chief  Justice  Gibson  delivered  the  opinion  of  the 
Court,  awarding  a  new  trial.  Although  this  decision  is  not  upon  the 
Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,  it  is  needful  to  a  fair  and  full  pre 
sentation  of  the  legal  history  of  the  case.  It  was  as  follows  : 

Opinion  of  the  Court. 

"GIBSON,  C.  J. — To  extricate  the  question  from  the  multifarious  mass  of 
irrelevant  matter  in  which  it  is  enclosed,  we  must,  in  the  first  place,  ascertain 
the  specific  character  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  the  relation  it  bears  to  the 
corporation  which  is  the  immediate  subject  of  our  cognizance.  This  Assembly 
has  been  called  a  quasi  corporation  ;  of  which  it  has  not  a  feature.  A  quasi 
corporation  has  capacity  to  sue  and  to  be  sued  as  an  artificial  person  ;  which 
the  Assembly  has  not.  It  is  also  established  by  law  5  which  the  Assembly  is 
not.  Neither  is  the  Assembly  a  particular  order  or  rank  in  the  corporation, 
though  the  latter  was  created  for  its  convenience ;  such,  for  instance,  as  the 
shareholders  of  a  bank  or  joint-stock  company,  who  are  an  integrant  part  of 
the  body.  It  is  a  segregated  association,  which,  though  it  is  the  reproductive 
organ  of  corporated  successions,  is  not  itself  a  member  of  the  body ;  and  in 
that  respect  it  is  anomalous.  Having  no  corporate  quality  in  itself,  it  is  not  a 
subject  of  our  corrective  jurisdiction,  or  of  our  scrutiny,  further  than  to  ascer 
tain  how  far  its  organic  structure  may  bear  on  the  question  of  its  personal 
identity  or  individuality.  By  the  charter  of  the  corporation,  of  which  it  is  the 
handmaid  and  nurse,  it  has  a  limited  capacity  to  create  vacancies  in  it,  and  an 
unlimited  power  over  the  form  and  manner  of  choice  in  filling  them.  It  would 
be  sufficient  for  the  civil  tribunals,  therefore,  that  the  Assembled  Commission 
ers  had  constituted  an  actual  body:  and  that  it  had  made  its  appointment  in 
its  own  way,  without  regard  to  its  fairness  in  respect  to  its  members  ;  with  this 


608  APPENDIX. 

limitation,  however,  that  it  had  the  assent  of  the  constitutional  majority,  of 
which  the  official  act  of  authentication  would  be,  at  least,  prima  facie  evidence. 
It  would  be  immaterial  to  the  legality  of  the  choice  that  the  majority  had  ex 
pelled  the  minority,  provided  a  majority  of  the  whole  body  concurred  in  the 
choice.  This  may  be  safely  predicated  of  an  undivided  Assembly,  and  it  would 
be  an  unerring  test  in  the  case  of  a  division,  could  a  quorum  not  be  consti 
tuted  of  less  than  such  a  majority;  but  unfortunately,  a  quorum  of  the  General 
Assembly  may  be  constituted  of  a  very  small  minority,  so  that  two,  or  even 
more,  distinct  parts  may  have  all  the  external  organs  of  legitimate  existence. 
Hence,  where,  as  in  this  instance,  the  members  have  formed  ihemselves  into 
separate  bodies,  numerically  sufficient  for  corporate  capacity  and  organic  ac 
tion,  it  becomes  necessary  to  ascertain  how  far  either  of  them  was  formed  in 
obedience  to  the  conventional  law  of  the  Association,  which,  for  that  purpose 
only,  is  to  be  treated  as  a  rule  of  civil  obligation. 

"  The  division  which,  for  purposes  of  designation,  it  is  convenient  to  call  the 
Old  School  party,  was  certainly  organized  in  obedience  to  the  established 
order;  and,  to  legitimate  the  separate  organization  of  its  rival,  in  contraven 
tion,  as  it  certainly  was,  of  everything  like  precedent,  would  require  the  pre 
sentation  of  a  very  urgent  emergency.  At  the  stated  time  and  place  for  the 
opening  of  the  session,  the  parties  assembled,  without  any  ostensible  division  ; 
and,  when  the  organization  of  the  whole  had  proceeded  to  a  certain  point,  by 
the  instrumentality  of  the  Moderator  of  the  preceding  session,  who,  for  that 
purpose,  was  the  constitutional  organ,  a  provisional  Moderator  was  suddenly 
chosen,  by  a  minority  of  those  who  could  be  entitled  to  vote,  including  the  ex 
scinded  Commissioners.  The  question  on  the  motion  to  elect,  was  put,  not  by 
the  Chair,  but  by  the  mover  himself;  after  which,  the  seceding  party  elected  a 
permanent  Moderator,  and  immediately  withdrew,  leaving  the  other  party  to 
finish  its  process  of  organization,  by  the  choice  of  its  Moderator  for  the  session. 

"In  justification  of  this  apparent  irregularity,  it  is  urged  that  the  constitu 
tional  Moderator  had  refused  an  appeal  to  the  Commissioners  in  attendance, 
from  his  decision,  which  had  excluded  from  the  roll  the  names  of  certain  Com 
missioners  who  had  been  unconstitutionally  severed,  as  it  is  alleged,  from  the 
Presbyterian  connection  by  a  vote  of  the  preceding  session.  It  is  conceded  by 
the  argument,  that  if  the  Synods  with  the  dependent  Presbyteries  by  which 
those  Commissioners  were  sent,  had  been  constitutionally  dissolved,  the  motion 
was  one  which  the  Moderator  was  not  bound  to  put,  or  the  Commissioners  to 
notice  ;  and  that  whatever  implication  of  assent  to  the  decision  which  ensued, 
might  otherwise  be  deduced  from  the  silence  of  those  who  refused  to  speak 
out,  about  which  it  will  be  necessary  to  say  something  in  the  sequel,  there  was 
no  room  for  any  such  implication  in  the  particular  instance.  It  would  follow 
also,  that  there  was  no  pretence  for  the  deposal  of  the  Moderator,  if  indeed 
such  a  thing  could  be  legitimated  by  any  circumstances,  for  refusing  an  appeal 
from  his  exclusion  of  those  who  had  not  color  of  title,  and  consequently,  that 
what  else  might  be  reform,  would  be  revolution.  And  this  leads  to  an  inquiry 
into  the  constitutionality  of  the  act  of  excision. 

"The  sentence  of  excision,  as  it  has  been  called,  was  nothing  else  than  an 
ordinance  of  dissolution.  It  bore  that  the  Synods  in  question,  having  been 
formed  and  attached  to  the  body  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  under,  and  in 
execution  of,  the  Plan  of  Union,  '  be,  and  are  hereby  declared  to  be,  out  of  the 
ecclesiastical  connection  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America;  and  that  they  are  not,  in  form  or  in  fact,  an  integral  portion  of  said 
Church.'  Now,  it  will  not  be  said  that  if  the  dissolved  Synods  had  no  other 
basis  than  the  Plan  of  Union,  they  did  not  necessarily  fall  along  with  it,  and 
it  is  not  pretended  that  the  Assembly  was  incompetent  to  repeal  the  union  pro- 


OPINION    OF   JUDGE    GIBSON.  609 

spectively,  but  it  is  contended  that  the  repeal  could  not  impair  rights  of  mem 
bership  which  had  grown  up  under  it.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  contended  that 
the  Plan  of  Union  was  unconstitutional  and  void  from  the  beginning,  because 
it  was  not  submitted  to  the  Presbyteries  for  their  sanction  ;  and  that  no  right 
of  membership  could  spring  from  it.  But  viewed,  not  as  a  constitutional  regu 
lation  which  implies  permanency  of  duration,  but  as  a  temporary  expedient,  it 
acquired  the  force  of  a  law  without  the  ratification  of  those  bodies.  It  was 
evidently  not  intended  to  be  permanent,  and  it  consequently  was  constitution 
ally  enacted  arid  constitutionally  repealed  by  an  ordinary  act  of  legislation ; 
and  those  Synods  which  had  their  root  in  it,  could  not  be  expected  to  survive 
it.  There  never  was  a  design  to  attempt  an  amalgamation  of  ecclesiastical 
principles  which  are  as  immiscible  as  water  and  oil;  much  less  to  effect  a  com 
mixture  of  them  only  at  particular  geographical  points.  Such  an  attempt 
would  have  compromised  a  principle  at  the  very  root  of  Presbyterial  govern 
ment,  which  requires  that  the  officers  of  the  Church  be  set  apart  by  special 
ordination  for  the  work.  Now,  the  character  of  the  Plan  is  palpable,  not  only 
in  its  title  and  provisions,  but  in  the  minute  of  its  introduction  into  the  As 
sembly.  We  find  in  the  proceedings  of  1801,  page  256,  that  a  committee 
was  raised  'to  consider  and  digest  a  Plan  of  Government  for  the  Churches  in 
the  new  settlements,  agreeably  to  the  proposal  of  the  General  Association  of 
Connecticut;'  and  that  the  plan  adopted  in  conformity  to  its  report,  is  called  'A 
Plan  of  Union  for  the  new  settlements.'  The  avowed  object  of  it  was  to  pre 
vent  alienation, — in  other  words,  the  affiliation  of  Presbyterians  in  other 
churches,  by  suffering  those  who  were  yet  too  few  and  too  poor  for  the  mainte 
nance  of  a  minister,  temporarily  to  call  to  their  assistance  the  members  of  a 
sect  who  differed  from  them  in  principles,  not  of  faith,  but  of  ecclesiastical 
government.  To  that  end,  Presbyterian  ministers  were  suffered  to  preach  to 
Congregational  churches,  while  Presbyterian  churches  were  suffered  to  settle 
Congregational  ministers ;  and  mixed  congregations  were  allowed  to  settle  a 
Presbyterian  or  a  Congregational  minister  at  their  election,  but  under  a  Plan 
of  Government  and  discipline  adapted  to  the  circumstances.  Surely  this  was 
not  intended  to  outlast  the  inability  of  the  respective  sects  to  provide  sepa 
rately  for  themselves,  or  to  perpetuate  the  innovations  on  Presbyterial  govern 
ment  which  it  was  calculated  to  produce.  It  was  obviously  a  missionary 
arrangement  from  the  first;  and  they  who  built  up  Presbyteries  and  Synods  on 
the  basis  of  it,  had  no  reason  to  expect  that  their  structures  would  survive  it, 
or  that  Congregationalists  might,  by  force  of  it,  gain  a  foothold  in  the  Presby 
terian  Church,  despite  of  Presbyterial  discipline.  They  embraced  it  with  all  its 
defeasible  properties  plainly  put  before  them  ;  and  the  power  which  constituted 
it  might  fairly  repeal  it,  and  dissolve  the  bodies  that  had  grown  out  of  it,  when 
ever  the  good  of  the  Church  should  seem  to  require  it. 

•'  Could  the  Synods,  however,  be  dissolved  by  a  legislative  act?  I  know  not 
how  they  could  have  been  legitimately  dissolved  by  any  other.  The  Assembly 
is  a  homogeneous  body,  uniting  in  itself,  without  separation  of  parts,  the  legis 
lative,  executive,  and  judicial  functions  of  the  government;  and  its  acts  are 
referable  to  the  one  or  the  other  of  them,  according  to  the  capacity  in  which  it 
sat  when  they  were  performed  Now,  had  the  exscinded  Synods  been  cut  off 
by  a  judicial  sentence  without  hearing  or  notice,  the  act  would  have  been  con 
trary  to  the  cardinal  principles  of  natural  justice,  and  consequently  void.  But 
though  it  was  at  first  resolved  to  proceed  judicially,  the  measure  was  aban 
doned  ;  probably  because  it  came  to  be  perceived  that  the  Synods  had  com 
mitted  no  offence. 

"A  glance  at  the  Plan  of  Union  is  enough  to  convince  us  that  the  disorder 
had  come  in  with  the  sanction  of  the  Assembly  itself.  The  first  article  directed 

39 


610  APPENDIX. 

missionaries  (the  word  is  significant),  to  the  new  settlements  to  promote  a 
good  understanding  betwixt  the  kindred  sects.  The  second  and  third  per 
mitted  a  Presbyterian  congregation  to  settle  a  Congregational  minister,  or  a 
Presbyterian  minister  to  be  settled  by  a  Congregational  church  ;  but  these 
provided  for  no  recognition  of  the  people  in  charge  as  a  part  of  the  Presbyte 
rian  body — at  least  they  gave  them  no  representation  in  its  government.  But 
the  fourth  allowed  a  mixed  congregation  to  settle  a  minister  of  either  denomi 
nation ;  and  it  committed  the  government  of  it  to  a  standing  committee,  but 
with  a  right  to  appeal  to  the  body  of  male  communicants  if  the  appellant  were 
a  Congregationalist,  or  to  the  Presbytery  if  he  were  a  Presbyterian.  Now,  it 
is  evident  the  Assembly  designed  that  every  such  congregation  should  be 
long  to  a  Presbytery  as  an  integrant  part  of  it,  for  if  its  minister  were  a  Con 
gregationalist,  in  no  way  connected  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  refer  the  appellate  jurisdiction  to  any  Presbytery  in  particular. 
This  alone  would  show  that  it  was  designed  to  place  such  a  congregation  in 
ecclesiastical  connection  with  the  Presbytery  of  the  district;  but  this  is  not  all. 
It  was  expressly  provided  in  conclusion,  that  if  the  t  said  standing  committee 
of  any  church  shall  depute  one  of  themselves  to  attend  the  Presbytery,  he  may 
have  the  same  right  to  sit  and  act  in  the  Presbytery  as  a  ruling  elder  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.'  For  what  purpose  if  the  congregation  were  not  in 
Presbyterial  fellowship  ? 

"•  It  is  said  that  this  jus  representationis  was  predicated  of  the  appeal  prece- 
dently  mentioned  ;  and  that  the  exercise  of  it  was  to  be  restrained  to  the  trial 
of  it.  The  words,  however,  were  predicated  without  restriction  ;  and  an  im 
plied  limitation  of  their  meaning  would  impute  to  the  Assembly  the  injustice  of 
allowing  a  party  to  sit  in  his  own  cause,  by  introducing  into  the  composition  of 
the  appellate  court  a  part  of  the  subordinate  one.  That  such  an  implication  would 
be  inconsistent  with  the  temper  displayed  by  the  Assembly  on  other  occasions, 
is  proved  by  the  order  which  it  took  as  early  as  1791,  in  the  case  of  an  appeal 
from  the  sentence  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  whose  members  it  prevented 
from  voting  on  the  question  (Assembly's  Digest,  p.  332),  as  well  as  by  its 
general  provision,  that  'members  of  a  judicatory  may  not  vote  in  the  superior 
judicatory  on  a  question  of  approving  or  disapproving  their  records.'  (Id. 
page  333.) 

"  The  principle  has  since  become  a  rule  of  the  Constitution,  as  appears  by 
the  Book  of  Discipline,  chap,  vii,  sec.  3,  paragraph  12.  As  the  representa 
tives  of  those  anomalous  congregations  therefore  could  not  sit  in  judgment  on 
their  own  controversies,  it  is  pretty  clear  that  it  was  intended  they  should  be 
represented  generally,  else  they  would  not  be  represented  at  all  in  the 'councils 
of  the  Church,  by  those  who  might  not  be  Presbyterians  ;  and  that  to  effect  it, 
the  principle  of  Presbyterial  ordination  was  to  be  relaxed,  as  regards  both  the 
ministry  and  eldership;  and  it  is  equally  clear  that  had  the  Synods  been  cited 
to  answer  for  the  consequent  relaxation  as  an  offence,  they  might  have  triumph 
antly  appeared  at  the  bar  of  the  Assembly  with  the  Plan  of  Union  in  their 
hand.  That  body,  however,  resorted  to  the  only  constitutional  remedy  in  its 
power;  it  fell  back,  so  to  speak,  on  its  legislative  jurisdiction,  in  the  exercise 
of  which  the  Synods  were  completely  represented  and  heard  by  their  commis 
sioners. 

"  Now  the  apparent  injustice  of  the  measure  arises  from  the  contemplation 
of  it  as  a  judicial  sentence  pronounced  against  parties  who  were  neither  cited 
nor  heard ;  which  it  evidently  was  not.  Even  as  a  legislative  act,  it  may  have 
been  a  hard  one,  though  certainly  constitutional,  and  strictly  just.  It  was  im 
possible  to  eradicate  the  disorder  by  anything  less  than  a  dissolution  of  those 
bodies  with  whose  existence  its  roots  were  so  intertwined  as  to  be  inseparable 


OPINION    OF   JUDGE    GIBSON.  611 

from  it,  leaving  their  elements  to  form  new  and  less  heterogeneous  combina 
tions.  Though  deprived  of  Presbyterial  organization,  the  Presbyterian  parts 
were  not  excluded  from  the  Church,  provision  being  made  for  them,  by  allow 
ing  them  to  attach  themselves  to  the  nearest  Presbytery. 

u  It  is  said  there  is  not  sufficient  evidence  to  establish  the  fact  that  the 
exscinded  Synods  had  actually  been  constituted  on  the  Plan  of  Union,  in  order 
to  have  given  the  Assembly  even  legislative  jurisdiction.  The  testimony  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Squier,  however,  shows  that  in  some  of  the  three  which  were  within 
the  State  ot  New  York,  congregations  were  sometimes  constituted  without 
elders  ;  and  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve,  when  charged  with  delinquency 
on  that  head,  instead  of  denying  the  fact,  promptly  pointed  to  the  Plan  of  Union 
for  its  justification.  But  what  matters  it  whether  the  fact  were  actually  what 
the  Assembly  supposed  it  to  be?  If  that  body  proceeded  in  good  faith,  the 
validity  of  its  enactment  cannot  depend  on  the  justness  of  its  conclusion.  "We 
have,  as  already  remarked,  no  authority  to  rejudge  its  judgments  on  their 
merits ;  and  this  principle  was  asserted  with  conclusive  force  by  the  presiding 
judge  who  tried  the  cause.  Upon  an  objection  made  to  an  inquiry  into  the 
composition  of  the  Presbytery  of  Medina,  it  was  ruled  that  'with  the  reasons 
for  the  proceedings  of  1837  (the  act  of  excision),  we  have  nothing  to  do.  We 
are  to  determine  only  what  was  done :  the  reasons  of  those  who  did  it  are  im 
material.  If  the  acts  complained  of  were  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Assem 
bly,  their  decision  must  be  final,  though  they  decided  wrong.'  This  was  predi 
cated  of  a  judicial  jurisdiction,  but  the  principle  is  necessarily  as  applicable  to 
jurisdiction  for  purposes  of  legislation.  I  cite  the  passage,  however,  to  show 
that  after  a  successful  resistance  to  the  introduction  of  evidence  of  the  fact,  it 
lies  not  with  the  relators  to  allege  the  want  of  it. 

"If,  then,  the  Synods  in  question  were  constitutionally  dissolved,  the  Pres 
byteries  of  which  they  had  been  composed  were,  at  least  for  purposes  of  repre 
sentation,  dissolved  along  with  them;  for  no  Presbytery  can  be  in  connection 
with  the  General  Assembly,  unless  it  be  at  the  same  time  subordinate  to  a 
Synod  also  in  connection  with  it,  because  an  appeal  from  its  judgment  can 
reach  the  tribunal  of  the  last  resort  only  through  that  channel.  It  is  immate 
rial  that  the  Presbyteries  are  the  electors:  a  Synod  is  a  part  of  the  machinery 
which  is  indispensable  to  the  existence  of  every  branch  of  the  Church.  It 
appears,  therefore,  that  the  commissioners  from  the  exscinded  Synods  were  not 
entitled  to  seats  in  the  Assembly,  and  that  their  names  were  properly  excluded 
from  the  roll. 

"The  inquiry  might  be  rested  here:  for  if  there  were  no  color  of  right  in 
them,  there  was  no  color  of  right  in  the  adversary  proceedings'  which  were 
founded  on  their  exclusion.  But  even  if  their  title  were  clear,  the  refusal  of 
an  appeal  from  the  decision  of  the  Moderator,  would  be  no  ground  for  the  de 
gradation  of  the  officer  at  the  call  of  a  minority ;  nor  could  it  impose  on  the 
majority  an  obligation  to  vote  on  a  question  put  unofficially,  and  out  of  the 
usual  course.  To  all  questions  put  by  the  established  organ,  it  is  the  duty  of 
every  member  to  respond,  or  be  counted  with  the  greater  number,  because  he 
is  supposed  to  have  assented  beforehand  to  the  result  of  the  process  pre-estab 
lished  to  ascertain  the  general  will ;  but  the  rule  of  implied  assent  is  certainly 
inapplicable  to  a  measure  which,  when  justifiable  even  by  extreme  necessity, 
is  essentially  revolutionary,  and  based  on  no  pre-established  process  of  ascer 
tainment  whatever. 

"  To  apply  it  to  an  extreme  case  of  inorganic  action,  as  was  done  here, 
might  work  the  degradation  of  any  presiding  officer  in  our  legislative  halls,  by 
the  motion  and  actual  vote  of  a  single  member,  sustained  by  the  constructive 
votes  of  all  the  rest;  and  though  such  an  enterprise  may  never  be  attempted, 


612  APPENDIX. 

it  shows  the  danger  of  resorting  to  a  conventional  rule,  when  the  body  is  to  be 
resolved  into  its  original  elements,  and  its  rules  and  conventions  to  be  super 
seded,  by  the  very  motion.  For  this  reason,  the  choice  of  a  Moderator,  to  sup 
plant  the  officer  in  the  chair,  even  if  he  were  removable  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
commissioners,  would  seem  to  have  been  unconstitutional. 

"But  he  was  not  removable  by  them,  because  he  had  not  derived  his  office 
from  them  ;  nor  was  he  answerable  to  them  for  the  use  of  his  power.  He  was 
not  their  Moderator.  He  was  the  mechanical  instrument  of  their  organization ; 
and  till  that  was  accomplished,  they  were  subject  to  his  rule — not  he  to  theirs. 
They  were  chosen  by  the  authority  of  his  mandate,  and  with  the  power  of  self- 
organization,  only  in  the  event  of  his  absence  at  the  opening  of  the  session. 
Corporeally  present,  but  refusing  to  perform  his  function,  he  might  be  deemed 
constructively  absent,  for  constitutional  purposes,  insomuch  that  the  commis 
sioners  might  proceed  to  the  choice  of  a  substitute  without  him  ;  but  not  if  he 
had  entered  on  the  performance  of  his  task;  and  the  reason  is  that  the  decision 
of  such  questions  as  were  prematurely  passed  here,  is  proper  for  the  decision 
of  the  body  when  prepared  for  organic  action,  which  it  cannot  be  before  it  is 
fully  constituted  and  under  the  presidency  of  its  own  Moderator,  the  Moderator  of 
the  preceding  session  being  fnnctiis  officio.  There  can  be  no  occasion  for  its 
action  sooner;  for  though  the  commissioners  are  necessarily  called  upon  to 
vote  for  their  Moderator,  their  action  is  not  organic,  but  individual.  Dr. 
Mason's  motion  and  appeal,  though  the  clerks  had  reported  the  roll,  were  pre 
mature  ;  for  though  it  is  declared  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  the  Form  of  Govern 
ment,  that  no  commissioner  shall  deliberate  or  vote  before  his  name  shall  have 
been  enrolled,  it  follows  not  that  the  capacity,  consummated  by  enrolment,  was 
expected  to  be  exercised  during  any  part  of  the  process  of  organization,  but 
the  choice  of  a  Moderator;  and  moreover,  the  provision  may  have  been  in 
tended  for  the  case  of  a  commissioner  appearing  for  the  first  time,  when  the 
House  was  constituted. 

u  Many  instances  may  doubtless  be  found  among  the  minutes,  of  motions 
entertained  previously,  for  our  public  bodies,  whether  legislative  or  judicial, 
secular  or  ecclesiastical,  are  too  prone  to  forget  the  golden  precept — '  Let  all 
things  be  done  decently  and  in  order.'  But  these  are  merely  instances  of  irre 
gularity  which  have  passed,  sub  silentio,  and  which  cannot  change  a  rule  of 
positive  enactment.  It  seems,  then,  that  an  appeal  from  the  decision  of  the 
Moderator  did  not  lie  ;  and  that  he  incurred  no  penalty  by  the  disallowance  of 
it.  The  title  of  the  exscinded  commissioners  could  be  determined  only  by  the 
action  of  the  House,  which  could  not  be  had  before  its  organization  was  com 
plete ;  and  in  the  meantime  he  was  bound,  as  the  executive  instrument  of  the 
preceding  Assembly,  to  put  its  ordinance  into  execution :  for  to  the  actual 
Assembly,  and  not  to  the  Moderator  of  the  preceding  one,  it  belonged  to 
repeal  it. 

"  It  would  l)e  decisive,  however,  that  the  motion,  as  it  was  proposed,  pur 
ported  not  to  be  in  fact  a  question  of  degradation  for  the  disallowance  of  an 
appeal,  but  one  of  new  and  independent  organization.  It  was,  ostensibly  as 
well  as  actually,  a  measure  of  transcendental  power,  whose  purpose  was  to 
treat  the  ordinance  of  the  preceding  Assembly  as  a  nullity,  and  its  Moderator 
as  a  nonentity.  It  had  been  prepared  for  the  event  avowedly  before  the  meet 
ing.  The  witnesses  concur  that  it  was  propounded  as  a  measure  of  original 
organization  transcending  the  customary  order;  and  not  as  a  recourse  to  the 
ultima  ratio  for  a  specific  violation  of  it.  The  ground  of  the  motion  as  it  was 
opened  by  the  mover,  was  not  the  disallowance  of  an  appeal,  which  alone  could 
afford  a  pretext  of  forfeiture,  but  the  fact  of  exclusion.  To  affect  silent  mem 
bers  with  an  implication  of  assent,  however,  the  ground  of  the  motion  and 


YORK   CHURCH   CASE.  613 

nature  of  the  question  must  be  so  explicitly  put  before  them  as  to  prevent 
misconception  or  mistake;  and  the  remarks  that  heralded  the  question  in  this 
instance,  pointed  at,  not  a  removal  of  the  presiding  incumbent,  but  a  separate 
organization  to  be  accomplished  with  the  least  practicable  interruption  of  the 
business  in  hand ;  and  if  they  indicated  anything  else  they  were  deceptive. 
The  measure  was  proposed  not  as  that  of  the  body,  but  as  the  measure  of  a 
party ;  and  the  cause  assigned  for  not  having  proposed  it  elsewhere,  was  that 
individuals  of  the  party  had  been  instructed  by  counsel  that  the  purpose  of  it 
could  not  be  legally  accomplished  in  any  other  place.  No  witness  speaks  of  a 
motion  to  degrade ;  and  the  rapidity  of  the  process  by  which  the  choice  of  a 
substitute,  not  a  successor,  was  affected,  left  no  space  for  reflection  or  debate. 
Now  before  the  passive  commissioners  could  be  affected  by  acquiescence  im 
plied  from  their  silence,  it  ought  to  have  appeared  that  they  were  apprised  of 
what  was  going  on  ;  but  it  appears  that  even  an  attentive  ear-witness  was 
unable  to  understand  what  was  done.  The  whole  scene  was  one  of  unprece 
dented  haste,  insomuch  that  it  is  still  a  matter  of  doubt  how  the  questions  were 
put.  Now,  though  these  facts  were  fairly  put  to  the  jury,  it  is  impossible  not 
to  see  that  the  verdict  is,  in  this  respect,  manifestly  against  the  current  of  the 
evidence. 

"Other  corroborative  views  have  been  suggested  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  com 
press  a  decision  of  the  leading  points  in  this  case  into  the  old-fashioned  limits 
of  a  judicial  opinion.  The  preceding  observations,  however,  are  deemed 
enough  to  show  the  grounds  on  which  we  hold  that  the  Assembly  which  met  in 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  was  not  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  Asernbly 
of  1837;  and  that  the  defendants  are  not  guilty  of  the  usurpation  with  which 
they  are  charged. 

"  Rule  for  a  new  trial  made  absolute. 

"ROGERS,  J. — After  the  patient  and  impartial  investigation,  by  me,  of  this 
cause,  at  Nisi  Prius,  and  in  bank,  I  have  nothing  at  this  time  to  add,  except 
that  my  opinion  remains  unchanged  on  all  the  points  ruled  at  the  trial.  This 
explanation  is  deemed  requisite,  in  justice  to  myself,  and  because  it  has  become 
necessary  (in  a  case,  in  some  respects  without  precedent,  and  presenting  some 
extraordinary  features)  to  prevent  misapprehension  and  misrepresentation." 


York  Church  Case. 

[The  first  case  that  was  tried,  after  the  delivering  of  the  foregoing 
Opinion,  was  that  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  at  York,  Pa.  A  minority 
of  that  church,  adhering  to  that  body  which,  had  been  pronounced  by  this 
Opinion  of  the  Court  to  be  "the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America/'  seceded  from  the  congrega 
tion,  and,  worshipping  in  another  place,  claimed  to  be  "The  English 
Presbyterian  Congregation  in  the  Borough  of  York/' — its  chartered 
name, — and  as  such  elected  trustees,  and  sued  for  the  church  property.. 

The  case  came  on  for  trial*  in  the  court  below,  and  was  decided  in 
favor  of  the  Congregation  (the  majority).  The  minority  appealed  to  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  the  Opinion  of  that  court  was  delivered  by  Chief 


614  APPENDIX. 

Justice  Gibson.     It  materially  modifies  his  former  Opinion,  and  is  as 
follows  (see  1  Watts  &  Sergeant's  Reports,  p.  35) : 

"  This  ejectment  is  brought  in  the  name  of  the  corporation  by  a  minority 
of  the  congregation,  who,  having  withdrawn  from  its  stated  worship  in  the 
church  building,  insist  that  the  majority  have  forfeited  their  corporate  rights 
by  dissolving  the  connection  of  the  congregation  with  the  Presbytery  of  Car 
lisle,  and  the  primitive  General  Assembly ;  and  to  understand  the  grounds  on 
which  they  have  placed  the  controversy,  it  is  necessary  to  state  the  case  with 
its  circumstances. 

"  The  congregation  was  formed  in  1Y62  ;  for  it  was  proved  at  the  trial  that 
ministerial  supplies  were  furnished  in  that  year  by  the  Presbytery  of  Donegal, 
and  subsequently  by  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle,  under  whose  care  it  remained 
until  the  late  convulsion  of  the  Presbyterian  body  induced  it,  while  disclaiming 
all  intention  to  become  an  independent  church,  to  decline  for  the  present  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  conflicting  judicatories.  Its  pulpit  seems  not  to  have  been 
regularly  filled  till  the  installation  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cathcart,  in  1793.  Such 
were  its  origin  and  ecclesiastical  relations.  The  property  in  contest  was  con 
veyed  by  John  Penn,  Sr.,  and  John  Perm,  Jr.,  late  proprietaries  of  the  province 
of  Pennsylvania,  to  George  Irwin,  William  Scott,  and  Archibald  McLean,  'in 
trust  for,  and  as  a  site  for  a  house  of  religious  icorship,  and  a  burial  place  for 
the  use  of  the  said  religious  society  of  English  Presbyterians  and  their  suc 
cessors,  in  and  near  the  said  town  of  York,  in  the  county  of  York ;  and  in 
confidence  that  they,  the  said  George  Irwin,  William  Scott,  and  Archibald 
McLean,  and  the  survivor  of  them,  their  and  his  heirs  and  assigns,  shall  and 
Avill  permit  and  suffer  the  said  lot  or  piece  of  ground  and  premises  and  the 
buildings  thereon  hereafter  to  be  erected,  to  be  from  time  to  time,  and  at  all 
times  hereafter,  at  the  disposal  and  under  the  care,  regulation,  and  manage 
ment  of  the  said  religious  society  and  their  successors  in  and  near  the  town 
of  York  aforesaid  5  and  to  and  for  no  other  use,  intent,  or  purpose  whatsoever.' 
The  church  seems  to  have  been  built  shortly  afterwards,  but  it  was  not  finished 
before  the  installation  of  Dr.  Cathcart.  The  congregation  obtained  a  patent 
of  incorporation,  in  1813,  by  the  style  of '  The  Trustees  of  the  English  Presby 
terian  Congregation  in  the  borough  of  York  ;'  but  the  legal  title  of  the  original 
trustees  has  not  been  conveyed  to  it,  and  the  corporation  is  now,  what  the 
congregation  were  before,  the  party  beneficially  entitled.  It  will  be  perceived, 
therefore,  that  the  minority  attempt  to  use  the  corporate  name  in  order  to  oust 
the  majority  for  an  alleged  forfeiture  of  the  corporate  rights,  incurred,  as  it  is 
supposed,  by  an  application  of  the  property  to  uses  differing  from  those  which 
the  founders  prescribed. 

"  By  the  common  law  he  who  gives  the  first  possessions  to  a  corporation  is 
the  founder  of  it,  and  entitled  to  the  rights  which  the  foundership  gives. 
Viner's  Abr.  Tit.  Corporations  H.  1.  These  consist  in  visitation,  and  correc 
tion  of  any  misapplication  of  his  bounty  to  purposes  foreign  to  its  original 
destination.  What  then  was  the  purpose  prescribed  by  the  Messrs.  Penn? 
It  was  no  more  than  to  carry  out  the  generous  policy  of  their  ancestor,  the 
founder  of  the  province,  who,  though  rigidly  attached  to  the  principles  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  was  bigoted  to  no  particular  sect,  but  munificent  to  all ; 
and  who  left  each  to  apply  his  gifts  to  such  pious  uses  as  it  might  think  fit. 
That  his  descendants  followed  his  example  in  this  instance,  is  shown  by  the 
terms  of  the  trust,  which  prescribed  no  form  of  doctrine  or  discipline,  the 
beneficiary  being  described  as  the  English  Presbyterian  Congregation,  evi 
dently  to  individuate  it;  and  that  subjection  to  a  particular  Assembly,  was  not 


YORK   CHURCH   CASE.  615 

a  condition  of  the  grant,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  there  was  at  that  time  no  such 
Assembly  in  America.  The  conveyance  was  executed  in  1785  ;  and  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Church  was  constituted  by  the  Synod 
of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  in  1788.  It  may  be  said  that  this  congregation 
was  connected  with  the  elements  of  which  the  General  Assembly  was  formed, 
and  that  it  is  bound  to  conform  to  those  subsequent  changes  to  which  its 
representatives  in  the  Synod  assented.  But  were  the  founders,  or  the  subject 
of  their  bounty  bound  by  terms  to  which  the  founders  did  not  originally  assent? 
The  original  terms  could  not  be  altered  even  with  their  own  consent;  for  that 
they  are  as  incompetent  as  any  one  else  to  add  to,  or  take  away  from  them, 
was  ruled  in  Philips  v.  Bury,  Skin.  513,  in  which  it  was  agreed  that  the  founder 
having  given  statutes  to  a  college,  cannot  alter  them  unless  he  has  reserved  a 
right  to  do  so.  As  tests  of  sectarian  denomination  and  character,  therefore, 
the  divisions  that  have  since  taken  place  about  the  Constitution  of  the  General 
Assembly  must  be  laid  out  of  the  case.  The  founders  foresaw  them  not ;  and 
had  they  foreseen  them,  they  would  have  left  them  to  be  dealt  with  by  the 
congregation  at  its  pleasure.  The  members  of  the  congregation  who  erected 
the  building  may  be  thought  to  have  had  a  separate  interest  of  their  own  in 
the  purpose  to  which  it  was  to  be  dedicated  ;  but  even  they  cannot  be  said  to 
have  erected  it  with  a  view  to  a  particular  union,  for  though  it  was  not  finished 
till  after  the  Assembly  was  constituted,  it  was  begun,  and  the  pecuniary  re 
sponsibilities  incident  to  the  plan  were  contracted  previously.  But  by  the  com 
mon  law,  even  subsequent  contributors  have  no  other  right  of  direction  than 
that  which  the  founder  has  prescribed ;  for  they  come  in  and  give  their  money 
on  a  basis  already  established,  and  they  can  neither  add  to  it  nor  take  anything 
from  it.  If  then  the  Messrs.  Penn  necessarily  gave  the  ground  in  contest, 
subject  to  the  direction  of  a  majority  bearing  the  name  of  Presbyterians, 
subsequent  contributors  with  particular  views,  could  not  change  the  destina 
tion  of  it.  But  though  no  standard  of  discipline  or  faith  be  prescribed  in  the 
conveyance  or  charter  of  incorporation,  I  entirely  concur  in  what  Lord  Eldon 
said  in  The  Attorney  General  v.  Pearson,  8  Meriv.  Rep.  353,  that  'when  a 
house  is  created  for  religious  worship,  and  it  cannot  be  discovered  what  was 
the  nature  of  the  worship  intended  by  it,  it  must  be  implied  from  the  usage 
of  the  congregation ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  court  to  administer  the 
trust  in  such  a  manner  as  best  to  establish  the  usage,  considering  it  as  a  matter 
of  implied  contract  with  the  congregation.'  I  understand  by  this,  that  con 
temporaneous  usage  is  evidence  of  an  implied  contract  betwixt  the  founder 
and  the  congregation,  and  consequently  of  the  purpose  intended  by  him ;  but 
when,  as  here,  neither  the  usage  nor  the  purpose  could  possibly  have  existed 
at  the  time  material  to  the  question,  subsequent  usage  cannot  add  to  that  which 
he  intended.  I  agree  with  him  also,  *  that  when  the  members  of  a  congregation 
become  dissentient  among  themselves,  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  individuals  to 
say,  we  have  changed  our  opinions,  and  you  who  assemble  in  this  place  for  the 
purpose  of  hearing  the  doctrines  and  joining  in  the  worship  prescribed  by  the 
founder,  shall  no  longer  enjoy  the  benefit  he  intended  for  you  unless  you  con 
form  to  the  alterations  which  have  taken  place  in  our  opinions.'  With  all  this 
and  much  more,  I  promptly  agree  when  predicated  of  a  congregation  adhering 
as  nearly  as  it  can  to  the  principles  of  its  original  faith,  and  not,  as  in  that 
case,  swerving  from  the  tenets  of  trinitarianism  and  embracing  the  hostile 
tenets  of  unitarianism.  I  concede  also  that  subjection  to  a  particular  judi- 
catory  may  be  made  a  fundamental  condition  of  a  grant,  as  it  expressly  was 
in  Duncan  v.  The  Ninth  Presbyterian  Congregation,  in  which  the  trust  was 
declared  to  be  for  '  such  congregation  of  persons  as  shall  belong  to  the  present 
reformed  Synod  to  which  the  Rev.  Robert  Annan's  church  in  Spruce  Street 


616  APPENDIX. 

belongs,' — a  case  which  was  ultimately  settled  by  the  parties,  but  in  which 
I  differed  from  some  of  my  brethren  who  thought  the  congregation  had  not 
lost  its  property  in  the  trust  by  putting  off  its  distinctive  character  and 
merging  itself  in  the  mass  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  That  was  a  strong 
case ;  but  it  is  altogether  unlike  the  present,  in  which  no  such  condition  was 
expressed  or  implied.  Even  without  an  express  condition,  it  might  be  a  breach 
of  the  compact  of  association  for  the  majority  of  a  congregation  to  go  over 
to  a  sect  of  a  different  denomination,  though  it  were  different  only  in  name. 
For  instance,  the  majority  of  a  congregation  of  Seceders  could  not  carry  the 
church  property  into  the  Presbyterian  connection,  though  these  two  sects  have 
the  same  standards  and  plan  of  government.  But  this  principle  is  inapplicable 
to  a  change  of  connection  as  regards  different  parts  of  the  same  denomination 
or  sect. 

"  Now,  since  the  foundation  of  this  congregation,  an  event  has  happened 
which  the  founders  did  not  contemplate,  and  which  would  not  have  been  pro 
vided  for,  had  it  been  foreseen.  This  was  no  less  than  a  dismemberment  of 
the  Presbyterian  body,  not  indeed  by  disorganization  of  it,  or  an  entire  reduc 
tion  of  it  to  its  primitive  elements,  but  by  an  excision,  constitutional  though 
it  was,  of  whole  Synods  with  their  Presbyteries  and  congregations.  There 
was  not  merely  a  secession  of  particles,  leaving  the  original  mass  entire,  but 
the  original  mass  was  split  into  two  fragments  of  nearly  equal  magnitude ;  and 
though  it  was  held  by  this  court,  in  The  Commonwealth  v.  Green,  5  Whart. 
Rep.  531,  that  the  party  which  happened  to  be  in  office  by  means  of  its 
numerical  superiority  at  the  time  of  the  division,  was  that  which  was  entitled 
to  represent  it,  and  perform  the  functions  of  the  original  body,  it  was  not 
because  the  minority  were  thought  to  be  anything  else  than  Presbyterians,  but 
because  a  popular  body  is  known  only  by  its  government  or  head.  That  they 
differed  from  the  majority  in  doctrine  or  discipline,  was  not  pretended,  though 
it  was  alleged  that  they  did  not  maintain  the  scriptural  warrant  of  ruling  elders. 
But  the  difference  in  this  respect  had  been  tolerated  if  not  sanctioned  by  the 
Assembly  itself,  which,  with  full  knowledge  of  it,  had  allowed  the  heterodox 
Synods  to  grow  up  as  part  of  the  Church;  and  it  could  not,  therefore,  have 
been  viewed  as  radical  or  essential.  We  were  called  on,  however,  to  pass,  not 
on  a  question  of  heresy,  for  we  would  have  been  incompetent  to  decide  it,  but 
on  the  regularity  of  the  meeting  at  which  the  trustees  were  chosen.  I  mention 
this  to  show  that  we  did  not  determine  that  the  excision  was  expurgation  and 
not  division.  Indeed,  the  measure  would  seem  to  have  been  as  decisively 
revolutionary,  as  would  be  an  exclusion  of  particular  States  from  the  federal 
Union  for  the  adoption  of  an  anti-republican  form  of  government.  The  ex 
cluded  Synods,  gathering  to  themselves  the  disaffected  in  other  quarters  of  the 
Church,  formed  themselves  into  a  distinct  body,  governed  by  a  supreme  judi- 
catory,  so  like  its  fellow  as  to  pass  for  its  twin  brother,  and  even  to  lay  claim 
to  the  succession.  That  the  Old  School  party  succeeded  to  the  privileges  and 
property  of  the  Assembly,  was  not  because  it  was  more  Presbyterian  than  the 
other,  but  because  it  was  stronger ;  for  had  it  been  the  weaker,  it  would  have 
been  the  party  excluded,  and  the  New  School  party,  exercising  the  government 
as  it  then  had  done,  would  have  succeeded  in  its  stead,  and  thus  the  doctrine 
pressed  upon  us,  would  have  made  title  to  church  property  the  sport  of  accident. 
In  that  event,  an  attempt  to  deprive  the  Old  School  congregations  of  their 
churches,  for  an  act  of  the  majority,  in  withdrawing  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Assembly,  would  have  loaded  the  New  School  party  with  such  a  weight  of 
popular  odium  as  would  have  sunk  it.  Here  then  was  the  original  mass  divided 
into  two  parts  of  nearly  equal  magnitude  and  similar  structure  ;  and  what  was 
a  congregation  in  the  predicament  of  the  one  before  us  to  do  ?  It  surely  was 


YORK   CHURCH   CASE.  617 

not  bound  to  follow  the  party  which  was  successful  in  the  conflict,  merely 
because  superiority  of  numbers  had  given  it  the  victory. 

"  Before  the  American  Revolution,  the  Church  of  England  in  America,  as  it 
was  called,  was  annexed  to  the  diocese  of  the  Bishop  of  London  ;  and  it  will 
scarce  be  pretended  that,  after  its  separation  from  it  as  a  natural,  but  not  in 
evitable  consequence  of  our  political  independence,  a  single  American  parish 
ioner  might  have  recovered  the  church  with  its  parsonage  and  glebe,  when 
there  was  any.  from  his  dissentient  brethren,  by  insisting  on  a  continuance  of 
the  ancient  connection.  Public  opinion  would  not  have  borne  it.  Yet  every 
Episcopal  congregation  in  America  had  been  founded  on  the  basis  of  that 
connection,  and  our  independence  in  other  matters  had  raised  no  unanswerable 
objection  to  its  permanence,  especially,  after  the  Bishop  of  London  had  pro 
cured  an  act  of  Parliament  to  dispense  with  engagements  by  the  American 
Episcopal  clergy  that  would  have  interfered  with  their  political  allegiance.  It 
is  true  that  the  separation  was  effected  with  the  assent  of  the  mother  Church  ; 
but  it  was  the  parishioner  here,  and  not  the  Church  abroad,  whose  consent  was 
necessary  to  a  dissolution  of  his  ecclesiastical  relation,  in  order  to  impair  his 
civil  rights.  Besides,  the  consent  of  the  mother  Church  was  only  formal,  and 
given  to  the  separation  as  to  a  measure  which  she  could  not  prevent.  She 
indeed  conferred  the  Episcopate,  and  thus  secured  a  continuance  of  the  apos 
tolic  succession  to  the  American  Episcopal  Church;  but  that  might  have  been 
had  from  the  nonjuring  bishops  in  Scotland,  as  it  was  by  Dr.  Seabury,  or  from 
the  Danish  Episcopal  Church,  which  indeed  offered  it  on  terms  of  signing  the 
thirty-nine  articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  with  the  exception  of  their 
political  parts.  Had  the  offer  been  accepted,  there  would  have  been  an  adverse 
withdrawal  of  ecclesiastical  allegiance — in  principle  the  very  case  before  us — 
and  it  will  not  be  pretended  that  the  majority  of  an  Episcopal  congregation 
here  would  not  have  been  at  liberty,  in  that  event,  to  form  a  connection  with 
an  independent  Episcopal  Church  government,  without  forfeiting  the  interest 
of  each  in  the  Church  property. 

"  The  revolution  led  to  no  severance  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America 
from  the  Church  of  Scotland,  for  there  had  been  neither  connection  nor  corres 
pondence  between  them,  and  no  illustration  of  the  principle  proposed,  can  be 
had  from  that  quarter  ;  but  might  not  one  of  these  very  congregations  which  were 
severed  from  the  primitive  General  Assembly  here,  have  formed  a  new  connec 
tion  when  driven  from  the  old  one,  without  forfeiting  its  interest  in  the  Church 
property?  or  could  a  strictly  orthodox  minority  strip  them  of  it  by  organizing 
themselves  as  a  congregation,  on  strictly  Presbyterian  principles,  and  regaining 
the  former  connection?  To  cut  off  the  dissenters  in  the  first  instance,  and  to 
confiscate  their  property  for  what  was  declared  to  be  a  heresy  for  the  first  time, 
would  be  an  act  of  power,  not  of  justice.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  they  were 
Presbyterian  in  doctrine  and  discipline,  or  that  if  they  were  not,  they  had  been 
received  as  such  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church ;  and  what  is  the  difference 
betwixt  such  a  congregation  and  the  one  before  us  ?  It  is,  that  the  one  was 
turned  out  of  the  connection,  and  that  the  other  withdrew  from  it  voluntarily; 
but  the  minority  of  the  one  has  as  much  right  as  the  minority  of  the  other  to 
seize  the  Church  property  for  a  violation  of  conditions  supposed  to  be  implied 
by  the  act  of  association.  It  will  not  do  to  say  the  Assembly  sanctioned  the 
separation  in  the  one  case  and  not  in  the  other;  for  the  Assembly  had  no 
power  over  the  civil  rights  of  the  parties,  and  could  not  impair  them.  Nor  did 
it  mean  to  impair  them.  On  the  contrary,  it  allowed  what  it  considered  to  be 
the  sound  parts  of  those  congregations  to  attach  themselves  to  the  nearest 
orthodox  Presbytery.  This  was  done,  most  assuredly,  not  to  enable  them  to 
despoil  their  congregational  brethren  ;  but  had  they  attempted  to  do  so,  it  is 
hazarding  little  to  say  they  would  have  been  disappointed. 


618  APPENDIX. 

"  In  a  case  like  the  present,  it  may  be  demanded,  to  what  is  the  minority  of 
a  dissentient  congregation  to  appeal?  It  might  be  replied,  that  for  the  con 
tingency  of  revolution,  it  made  no  provision  in  its  articles  of  association,  and 
the  law  makes  none  ;  but  that  to  the  justice  and  forbearance  of  the  majority  of 
association,  whose  very  object  is  to  deal  justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly, 
it  is  to  be  supposed  that  the  minority  cannot  appeal  in  vain.  Nor  has  such 
an  appeal  in  any  instance  been  unsuccessful.  The  schism  which  a  few  years 
since  shook  the  Methodist  Church  to  its  centre,  is  heard  of  no  more ;  and  per 
haps  this  happy  termination  of  it  has  been  effected  in  a  great  measure  by  the 
good  sense  of  the  parties  in  following  the  advice  of  this  court  in  The  Methodist 
Church  v.  Remington,  1  Watts,  227, 'to  part  in  peace,  having  settled  their 
claims  to  the  property  on  the  basis  of  mutual  and  liberal  concession.'  And 
the  same  thing  has  been  done  with  like  effect  by  the  original  Presbyterian 
congregation  in  Carlisle. 

a  In  conclusion,  we  are  of  opinion  that  no  particular  Presbyterian  connection 
was  prescribed  by  the  founders,  or  established  by  the  charter;  and  that  if  such 
connection  had  been  prescribed,  there  has  been  no  adhesion  to  a  connection 
essentially  different,  and  that  the  breaking  up  of  the  original  Presbyterian  con 
federation,  has  released  this  congregation  from  the  duty  of  adhering  to  any 
particular  part  of  it  in  exclusion  of  another.  Instead  of  examining  each 
specific  error,  it  has  been  thought  better  to  examine  the  principles  on  which 
the  title  depends;  and  though  the  jury  were  inaccurately  instructed  that  an 
action  could  not  be  maintained  by  the  corporation  on  its  equitable  title,  yet  as 
other  principles  in  the  cause  are  decisive  against  its  right  to  recover,  the  record 
is  free  from  any  error  which  could  do  the  party  an  injury." 


Case  of  Lane  Seminary. 

Near  the  close  of  the  year  1845,  two  suits  at  law  were  brought  against 
Lane  Seminary  by  David  li.  Kemper,  one  of  the  donors  of  the  land  on 
which  the  Seminary  is  built.  The  first  was  instituted  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Ohio,  in  the  form  technically  denominated  "  quo  warranto" 
calling  upon  the  faculty  to  show  why  they  hold  their  offices  contrary  to 
the  charter,  which  requires  that  they  be  "members  of  (he  Presbyterian 
Church,  under  the  General  Assembly  of  that  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America."  This  suit  was  decided  at  the  December  term  of  the  court 
in  bane,  December,  1847,  in  favor  of  the  faculty,  on  the  ground  that 
the  action  was  barred  by  the  Statute  of  Limitation,  which  provides  that 
such  action  must  be  commenced  within  three  years  of  the  alleged  for 
feiture  of  office.  16  Ohio  Reports,  358. 

The  other  was  a  suit  in  chancery,  brought  in  the  Court  at  Cincinnati, 
in  the  form  of  a  petition,  by  Mr.  Kemper  as  a  donor,  that  the  court 
would  require  the  trustees  to  conform  to  their  charter,  which,  he  alleged, 
had  been  violated  by  the  neglect  of  manual  labor,  and  by  putting  men 
into  the  offices  of  instruction,  who  are  not  "  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  under  the  General  Assembly.'7 


LANE    SEMINARY   CASE.  619 

On  this  suit,  the  defendants  demurred  to  the  right  of  the  plaintiff  to 
institute  the  suit,  and  the  court  sustained  the  demurrer. 

From  this  decision,  the  plaintiff  then  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court. 

On  his  appeal  the  plaintiff,  having  obtained  leave  to  amend  his  plea, 
substituted  for  "  D.  R.  Kemper,  a  donor,"  "  D.  R.  Kemper,  a  Presby 
terian,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  other  Presbyterians."  The  defendants 
still  demurred,  and  their  demurrer  was  sustained  by  the  higher  court. 
17  Ohio  Reports,  293. 

A  third  suit  was  then  instituted  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  in 
the  name  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  on  the  relation  of  D.  R.  Kemper.  This 
suit  was  abated  by  the  death  of  the  relator,  in  1849.  In  1850,  the  suit 
was  renewed,  on  the  relation  of  Samuel  B.  Findlay, — the  means  of 
carrying  it  on  being  furnished  by  subscription  among  those  interested 
in  changing  the  ownership  of  the  Seminary. 

This  suit  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  trustees  of  the  Seminary,  at 
the  November  term  of  the  court,  1854.  The  following  is  the  language 
of  the  court : 

"  The  court  finds  and  decrees  that  the  trustees  of  said  institution,  the  officers 
and  members  of  the  executive  committee  of  said  institution,  the  professors  and 
teachers  in  said  institution  or  seminary  are,  and  always  have  been,  while  in 
such  connections  with  said  institution  or  seminary,  members  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church,  in  good  standing,  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America;  and  in  their  re 
ligious  character  and  professions  have  always  conformed  to  the  requirements 
of  the  laws  incorporating  said  institution  or  seminary,  and  of  the  deed  of  James 
Kemper  and  others  to  the  trustees  of  said  seminary,  &c. 

"The  court  further  finds  and  decrees,  that  the  trustees  and  officers  of  the 
Lane  Seminary  have  not,  in  any  respect  or  at  any  time,  disregarded  or  broken 
the  trusts  confided  to,  or  imposed  upon  them  by  the  various  donors  and  con 
tributors  to  the  funds,  real  and  personal,  of  the  said  institution,  and  by  the 
said  deed  from  James  Kemper  and  others.  On  the  contrary,  the  court  finds 
and  decrees  that  they  have,  in  all  respects  and  always,  fully  and  faithfully  kept 
and  performed  each  and  all  of  the  trusts  of  every  kind  confided  and  imposed 
upon  them  by  the  various  donors  and  contributors  to  the  funds,  real  and  per 
sonal,  and  all  trusts  of  every  kind  imposed  by  deed,  statute  law,  or  otherwise." 

From  this  decision  no  appeal  was  taken.  Hence  no  report  of  this 
decision  appears  in  the  Reports  of  the  State  of  Ohio. 

The  time  for  taking  an  appeal  having  expired,  this  decision  is  final, 
and  fixes  the  standing  of  the  General  Assembly  in  the  State  of  Ohio. 


ADDENDUM. 


Synod  of  Minnesota  Erected  1858. 

The  committee  also  reported,  that  a  memorial  from  the  Presbytery  of  Blue 
Earth  has  been  placed  in  their  hands,  praying  that  a  new  Synod  may  be  cre 
ated,  to  consist  of  the  Presbyteries  of  Blue  Earth,  Minnesota,  and  Dacotah, 
which  last  Presbytery  is  not  now  in  connection  with  any  higher  ecclesiastical 
body.  There  has  also  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  committee  a  certified 
copy  of  a  resolution  by  the  Presbytery  of  Minnesota,  concurring  with  said  me 
morial  from  the  Presbytery  of  Blue  Earth.  They  have  further  received  verbal 
information,  from  the  commissioner  of  the  Presbytery  of  Minnesota,  that  it  is 
believed  that  the  members  of  the  Presbytery  of  Dacotah  are  favorable  towards 
the  arrangement,  though  no  definite  communication  has  been  received  from 
the  Presbytery  itself. 

The  said  Presbytery  of  Dacotah  not  being  now  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Assembly,  it  is  not  competent  for  this  body  absolutely  to  create  the  proposed 
Synod  according  to  the  prayer  of  the  memorialist.  But  inasmuch  as  it  is  urged 
upon  the  committee  that  a  strong  necessity  exists  for  the  immediate  construc 
tion  of  such  a  Synod,  they  recommend  to  the  Assembly  the  following  action: 

Resolved,  1.  That  the  Presbyteries  of  Blue  Earth  arid  Minnesota  be  directed 
to  meet  at  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  on  the  second 
Wednesday  of  September,  1858,  at  7  o'clock  P.M.,  with  the  view  of  uniting,  if 
the  way  be  prepared,  with  the  Presbytery  of  Dacotah,  in  the  organization  of  a 
Synod. 

Resolved,  2.  That  the  stated  clerk  of  the  Assembly  address  a  letter  to  the 
Presbytery  of  Dacotah,  inviting  them  to  meet  with  the  Presbyteries  of  Blue 
Earth  and  Minnesota,  at  the  above  time  and  place,  and,  if  the  way  be  prepared, 
to  become  incorporated  with  them  in  a  Synod  under  the  care  of  this  General 
Assembly. 

Resolved,  3.  That,  in  the  event  of  compliance  with  this  invitation  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Dacotah,  the  Presbyteries  of  Blue  Earth,  Minnesota,  and  Daco 
tah,  shall  then  and  there  become  a  Synod  under  the  name  of  the  Synod  of 
Minnesota;  and  that  the  Rev.  Thomas  S.  Williams,  or  in  case  of  his  absence, 
the  oldest  minister  present,  shall  preach  a  sermon,  and  preside  until  a  new 
moderator  be  chosen. 

The  report  Avas  adopted.— Minutes,  1858,  pp.  591,  592. 


ERRATA. 


Page  50,  line  7.     For  "  sec.  20,"  read  "  sec.  2." 
"      210,  lines  12,  17,  22.     For  "Form  of  Government,"  read  "Book  of 

Discipline." 

"      216,  line  21.     For  "over  to,"  read  "over." 
"      295,  line  7.     For  "  CHICAGO,"  read  "  PITTSBURG." 


INDEX. 


Ability  and  inability, 

natural,  296,  303,  310,  313,  317,  501. 

moral,  24,  296?  313. 
Absence, 

committee  on  leave  of,  179. 

of  the  accused,  198,  223,  224,  235. 

of  the  prosecutor,  212,  213,  230. 

of  records,  215,  218,  231. 
Absentees, 

from  church  courts,  141, 142,  175, 179. 

from  communion,  41-45. 
Abstinence, 

from  ardent  spirits,  258,  259. 

total,  260. 
Abstract  cases,  190. 
Accused, 

absence  of,  198,  223,  224,  235. 

rights  of,  193,  194,  198,  205,  207,  220, 
226,  304,  470. 

counsel  for,  107,  194. 
Active  obedience  of  Christ,  302. 
Adam,  297,  302. 

sin  of,  300,  310,  313. 

man's  relation  to,  307,  310,  313. 
Adams,  William,  238. 
Admonition,  199,  204,  239,  301. 
Adopting  Act,  18,  19,  20,  25. 
Adoption  of  the  Westminster  Standards,  17. 
Adults,  baptism  of,  103. 
Adultery,  223,  247,  248. 
Affinity,  elective,  128,  129,  494. 

marriage.  238. 
Africa,  missionaries  to,  267. 

colonization  of,  356-359. 
Age  of  infancy,  96. 
Agency  of  the  Spirit,  304,  305. 

moral,  314,  315. 
Alexander,  Alexander,  108. 
Alternates,  161-163. 
AMENDMENTS, 

of  the  Constitution,  26,  113. 

proposed,  585-602. 

of  a  question,  169,  603. 
American  Board,  332,  346,  347,  356,  426, 
427,  431 

Home  Missionary   Society,    329-341, 
356,  363-370. 


American  Education   Society,    332,    343, 
356. 

Bible  Society,  349-352,  356. 

Temperance  Society,  258,  259. 

Sunday-School  Union,  355,  356,  570, 
571. 

Tract  Society,  356. 

Colonization  Society,  356,  357. 
Andrews,  Edward,  124. 

Josiah  B.,  203. 
Anti-trinitarians,  298,  299. 
Appeal  from  the  chair,  170,  512,  541,  604. 

distinguished    from    complaint,    210, 

.  2.28' 
limited  to  original  parties,  210. 

limitation  of  time,  211. 
effect  of  an,  212,  220,  227. 
must  be  in  time,  213,  214. 
notice  of  intention,  195,  214,  215 
dismissed,    210,    211,    212,    213,   214, 

215,  217. 

postponed,  215,  216. 
arrests  process,  212,  220,  227. 
does  not  arrest  sentence,  221. 
barred  by  death  of  respondent,  222 
allowed,  216,  217,  225. 
refused,  217,  218. 
principle  in  the  case,  217. 
who  may  sit  on,  221,  222. 
order  of  issuing,  227. 
under  the  Plan  of  Union,  455,  466. 
of  Thomas  L.  Birch,  112. 
of  Presbytery  of  Abingdon,  113. 
of  Joseph  E.  Bell,  128. 
of  William  C.  Davis,  137. 
of  Session  of  Bloomington,  193. 
of  Dr.  Wylie,  193. 
of  William  Arthur,  194. 
of  Dr.  Frank,  195. 
of  Jabez  Spicer,  199. 
of  Favid  Price,  199,  204. 
of  Newton  Hawes,  200. 
of  Josiah  B.  Andrews,  203. 
of  Presbytery  of  Onondaga,  204. 
of  Aaron  C.  Collins,  205. 
of  John  Ward,  205. 
of  T.  B.  Craighead,  211,  212,  215,  304. 


622 


INDEX. 


Appeal  of  Dr.  James  Snodgrass,  212. 

of  Guernsey  G.  Brown,  212. 

of  Benedict  Hobbs,  213. 

of  Chloe  G.  Giles,  213. 

of  R.  Taylor,  213. 

of  Benjamin  Bell,  214. 

of  Charles  Yale,  214. 

of  Church  of  Bergen,  215. 

of  Pope  Bushnell,  215,  219,  221. 

of  James  Taylor,  216. 

of  C.  H.  Baldwin,  216,  220. 

of  George  Bourne,  216. 

of  Samuel  Lowry,  217,  218. 

of  Matthew  H.  Rice,  217. 

of  Church  at  Cooperstown,  218. 

of  Albert  Barnes,  221,  307. 

of  Mr.  Harney,  222. 

of  A.  King,  222. 

of  George  Sheldon,  223,  248. 

of  Lewis  Tappan,  217,  225,  226. 

of  William  Adams,  238. 

of  William  Vance,   239. 
APPEALS,  210-227,  587-592,  595-602. 
Appellant,   right  of,   198,   212,   215,   218, 
219,  220,  226. 

must  appear  at  the  next  Session,  211- 
213. 

personal    attendance   not   necessary, 
212,  213. 

must  give  notice  in  writing,  195,  214. 
215. 

leave  to  withdraw,  211,  217,  218. 
Appendix,  607-619. 

to  Church  Psalmist,  401. 
Approval  of  minutes,  who  vote,  138. 
Ardent  spirits, 

use  of,  discouraged,  257,  258. 

total  abstinence  from,  258,  259. 

manufacture  and  traffic,  259,  260. 
Arthur,  William,  194. 
Associate  Reformed  Church,  451,  452,  468. 
Atonement  of  Christ,  307,  316. 
Austin,  David,  125. 

Balch,  Hezekiah,  299,  300,  301. 
Baldwin,  C.  II.,  216,  220. 
BAPTISM,  94-103. 

infant,  39,  98,  99. 

children  of  slaves,  99. 

by  an  impostor,  95. 

by  a  Unitarian,  95. 

by  a  suspended  or  deposed  minister, 
95;  96. 

Romish  baptism,  97. 

qualification  of  parents,  97. 

obligations  of  parents,  97. 

mode  of,  102. 

on  a  general  profession,  103. 
Baptized  children, 

care  over,  99,  100. 

discipline  of,  100-102. 

instruction  of,  62,  100,  568,  569. 
Barnes,  Albert,  219,  307-311. 


Beecher,  W.  H.,  195,  232. 
Bell,  Joseph  E.,  128. 

Benjamin,  214. 
Benediction,  606. 
Beneficence,  systematic,  359,  360. 
Benevolence,  disinterested,  299. 
Bergen,  Church  of,  215. 
Betting,  264. 
BIBLE,  348-352. 

distribution  of,  348-352. 
Society,  349,  352,  356. 
common  version,  351,  352. 
classes,  568,  569. 
Bigamy,  245. 

Bills  and  overtures.  168,  176. 
Birch,  Thomas  L  ,  112,  113. 
Bissell,  Josiah,  164,  165. 
Blanks,  how  filled,  605. 
Board  of  Missions,  327-332. 
of  Foreign  Missions,  348. 
of  Education,  341-343. 
Book,  condemnation  of,  302,  309. 
Book  of  Tunes,  400-402,  584,  585. 
Book  of  Discipline,  26. 

amendments  of,  585,  602. 
chapter  i,  sec.  3,  283,  287,  293. 
"       iii,  sec.  3,  290. 
"       iii,  sec.  5,  289. 
"       iv,  sees.  6,  10,  11,  13,  194. 
"       iv,  sec.  21,  107. 
"       v,  sees.  2,  3,  4,  123,  126. 
"       v,  sec.  11,  223. 

vii,  sec.  1,  art.  3,  139. 
"       vii,  sec.  1,  art.  4,  587,  592. 
"       vii,  sec.  1,  587,  51)2. 
"       vii,  sec.  1,  art.  6,  289. 
"       vii,  sec.  2,  588,  592,598,  600. 
"       vii,  sec.  3,  210,  588.  592. 

vii,  sec.  3,   art.   2,    216,   220, 

598,  600. 

"       vii,  sec.  3,  art.  10,  195,  233. 
"       vii,  sec.  3,  art.  11,  213. 
"       vii,  sec.  3,  art.  15,  221. 
"       vii,  sec.  4,  210,  588,  592,  600. 
"       vii,  sec.  4,  art.  4,  598. 
"       viii,  sec.  1,  288. 
"       viii,  sees.  2,  3,  5,  6,  289. 
"       ix,  sec.  1,  206. 
"       xi,  45. 
"       xi,  sec,  6,  245. 
Books  and  tracts,  353-356. 

gratuitous  distribution  of,  353,  354. 
Boundaries  of  Presbytery,  128-132, 
should  be  defined,  128. 
exceptions,  129-131. 
Bourne,  George,  123,  199,  203. 
Brainerd,  David,  344. 

John,  345. 
Brown,  Guernsey  G.,  212. 

John  A.,  405,  410. 
Bushnell,  Pope,  215,  221. 

Calvinistic  divines,  views  of,  300,  301. 


INDEX. 


623 


CANDIDATES,  73-85. 

examination  of,  23,  115,  416. 

must  adopt  the  standards,  18,  32. 

liberally  educated,  73,  74,  75,  93,  417. 

time  of  study,  75,  76,  417,  590,  591. 

under  the  care  of  Session,  77,  420. 

are  of  the  laity,  77. 

by  whom  to  be  disciplined,  78. 

arrest  of  trials,  78. 

to  what  Presbytery  they  belong,   78, 
79,  82,  420. 

by  whom  licensed,  79,  413,  439. 

when  under  care  of  Presbytery,   79, 
85,  413. 

rejected  by  a  Presbytery,  120. 

ordered  to  attend  Presbytery,  321. 

sent  on  missions,  321. 

ordained  as  missionaries,  88. 

of   the    Permanent    Committee,    412, 
416-418. 

plan  for  aiding,  416—418. 

amount  of  aid,  417. 

from    corresponding    churches,    439, 

442,  445. 

Casting  vote,  171,  172,  605. 
Catechisms  adopted,  18,  20,  22,  33. 

ratified  and  approved,  26. 

an  integral  part  of  the  standard,  32, 
33,  34. 

instruction  in,  62,  100,  133,  325,  569, 

571,  572,  573. 

Censure  without  trial,  112,  113,   192-194, 
233. 

without  citation,  45,  192. 

disproportionate,  199,  200. 

removal  of,  233. 

unconstitutional,  196,  200,  212,  233. 

indirect,  309. 
Certificates  of  dismission,  41,  116. 

of  good  standing,  45. 
Chambers,  John,  438,  439. 
Chairman  of  committee,  171,  605. 
Chaplains  in  the  army,  71,  72. 

in  the  navy,  72. 

ordination  of,  72. 
Charges  must  be  specific,  194. 

what  specified,  194. 
Charter  of  the  trustees, 

of  the  Assembly,  184-187. 

of  the  Presbyterian  House,  408,  409. 

of  the  Church   Erection   Fund,    384, 
389,  390. 

of  the  Education  Committee,  420, 421. 
Children, 

of  slaves  to  be  baptized,  98,  99. 

baptized,  care  of,  99,  100. 

instruction  of,   62,  99,  100,  566,  570, 
573. 

discipline  of,  100,  101,  102. 

catechizing  of,  99,  133,  325,  569,  571, 

572. 

Christ,  righteousness  of,  24,  300,  302,  310, 
311,  313,  314,  318. 


Christ, vicarious  sufferings  of,  311,  313,316. 

intercession  of,  314,  317. 

atonement  of,  307,  316. 
CHURCH,  THE,  17-46. 

a  particular,  35-38. 

how  and  by  whom  organized,   36,  37, 

OQ 

members  of,  38-48. 

who  may  be  received,  38-40. 

by  whom  admitted.  40,  41. 

absent,  41-45. 

covenants,  134. 

having  a  stated  supply,  55,  63. 

officers  of,  47-72. 

COURTS  OF  THE,  105-190. 
Church,  Bethuel,  Esq.,  39. 
CHURCH  ERECTION,  375-393. 

Fund,  385,  386,  566,  567. 

trustees  of,  375-393. 

duties  and  powers,  376,  567. 

Plan,  378-384. 

charter,  389-390. 

by-laws,  390-392. 

rules  and  regulations,  393. 
CHURCH  EXTENSION, 

Standing  Committee  on,  177. 

Permanent  Committee  on,  361—375. 

powers  of,  295,  337,  369,  371,  372,  373. 

number  and  term  of  office,  370. 

quorum,  370. 

powers  enlarged,  371. 

rules,  374,  375. 

Committee  of  Synod,  364,  374,  377, 
381,  386. 

Committee  of  Presbytery,  364,  374. 
Church  Psalmist,  398-400,  582-584. 

appendix  to,  400,  401. 
Circular  letter,  1837,  499-506. 
Citation,  44,  45,  192,  223,  289. 

of  the  four  Synods,  469-473. 

in  dissolving  a  pastorate,  60. 
Clapp,  Theodore,  62. 
Clergy  and  laitv,  77. 

Clerk,  stated,  167,  174,  175,  176,  181,  183, 
365,  379. 

permanent,  167,  175,  176. 

temporary,  176. 
Cochran,  John,  228. 
Collins,  Aaron  C.,  205. 
Colonization,  African,  356-359. 

Society,  356,  357. 

Commencement  of  process,  289,  470. 
Commission  of  missionaries,  325. 
Commissions,  Committee  on,  156,  157,  161, 
590. 

absence  or  defect  of,  159,  160. 
Commissioners  to  the  General  Assembly, 
156-166. 

when  elected,  158. 

from  new  Presbyteries,  157. 

ratio  of,  158,  159,  593,  594. 

principals  and  alternates,    161,    162, 
163. 


624 


INDEX. 


Commissioners  under  the  Plan  of  Union, 
164-166. 

compensation  of,  175,  179,  180-183. 
Commissioners'  Fund,  180-183. 
Committee,  Standing,  176. 

of  Commissions,  155,  157,  161. 

of  Bills  and  Overtures,  168,  176,  177. 

of  Prosecution,  606. 

Judicial,  168,  177,  605. 

on  the  Polity  of  the  Church,  177. 

on  Church  Extension,  177,  365. 

on  Education,  177. 

on  Publication,  177. 

on  Devotional  Exercises,  178. 

on  the  Narrative,  178. 

on  Leave  of  Absence,  179. 

on  Mileage,  179,  180,  181,  182. 

on  Foreign  Missions,  179. 

of  Missions,  326. 
Committees,  Permanent,  176,  361-433. 

Church  Extension,  368-375. 

Church  Erection,  375-393. 

Publication,  394-404. 

Presbyterian  House,  404-410. 

Education,  410-423. 

Foreign  Missions,  424-433. 
Committee  of  Conference, 

with  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society,  333,  337,  366,  367. 

with  the  New  England  Churches,  340. 

with  the  American  Board  of  Commis 
sioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  347, 
430. 

with  the  Old  School,  558,  561. 

on  Amicable  Separation,  473-483. 

of  Twelve.  521,  526--530. 
"Committee  men,"  164,  165. 
Communications  to  the  Assembly,  173. 
Communion,  admission  to,  39,  40,  41,  243, 
249. 

exclusion  from,  39,  40,  45,  134,  193. 
COMPLAINT,  228-236. 

how  it  differs  from  appeal,  228. 

should  go  to  the  next  court,  229. 

notice  of  intention,  229,  230. 

dismissed  for  informality,  230. 

absence  of  prosecutor,  230. 

absence  of  records,  231. 

referred  back,  232. 

issued  in  the  absence  of  complainant, 
234. 

must  be  specific,  234. 

leave  to  withdraw,  231. 

mode  of  issuing,  236. 

will  lie  against  a  Session,  50,  58. 

against  a  committee,  176. 

of  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  217. 

of  John  Cochran,  228. 

of  E.  W.  Gilbert  et  al.,  229,  234. 

of  St.  George's  Church,  230. 

of  Daniel  Hayden,  231. 

of  Alexander  M.  Cowan,  232. 

of  Franklin  Knox,  232 


Complaint  of  William  II.  Beecher,195,  232. 

of  Presbytery  of  Carlisle,  233,  235. 

of  S.  Houston,  234. 

of  Park  Church,  235. 

of  Presbytery  of  Des  Moines,  247- 

of  Ashbel  Green,  54. 

of  George  Duffield,  113. 

of  Alexander  Miller,  200. 
Confession  of  Faith, 

adopted,  18,  20,  22,  26. 

subscription  to,  17,  18,  20,  31. 

to  traduce,  censurable,  31,  310. 

use  and  obligation,  30,  31,  312. 

Chapter  ix,  sec.  1,  310. 

xxiv,  sec.  4,  241,  591. 
"         xxiv,  sec.  6,  248. 
"         xxviii,  sec.  3,  102. 
"         xxviii,  sec.  4,  103. 
Congregation,  New, 

how  organized,  36. 

without  elders,  37. 

transferred  only  by  Synod,  132. 
Connecticut,  Association  of,  340,  436,  453- 

469. 

Constitution,   amended  and  adopted,   25, 
586. 

notes  no  part  of,  29,  30. 

amendments  of,  585,  602. 
Contingent  Fund,  182,  183. 
Contumacy,  194,  198,  223,  226. 
COURTS  OF  THE  CHURCH,  105-190. 
Conversion,  agency  of  the  Spirit,  301,  318. 
CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  OTHER 
CHURCHES,  434-452. 

belongs  to  the  Assembly,  435. 

with  local  bodies.  435. 

with   the    Congregational    Churches. 
435-447. 

right  of  voting,   437-440,   441,   444, 
446. 

withdrawn,  439,  442-444. 

minute  on,  447. 

design  of,  450,  451. 

terms  of,  451. 
Corresponding  Churches, 

ministers  received  from,  115. 
Corresponding  members, 

of  Session.  107. 

of  Synod,' 139.  140. 

of  General  Assembly,  166,  167. 
Counsel  for  the  accused,  107,  194. 

for  complainant,  234. 

none  but  a  member  may  act,  107. 

in  the  suit  at  law.  527. 
Covenant  of  grace,  296. 

of  works,  300,  302. 
Covenants,  Church,  134. 
Craighead,  Thomas  B.,  194,  198,  211,  212, 

215,  220. 
Cross,  John,  60. 
Cross,  Robert,  201. 
Cumberland  Presbyterians,  95. 

correspondence  with,  448. 


INDEX. 


625 


Dancing,  262. 

promiscuous,  262,  263. 

discipline  for,  264. 
Davis,  Wm.  C.,  196,  302-304. 
DEACONS,  47,  48. 

powers  and  duties  of,  47,  48,  468. 

how  ordained,  36,  48. 

election  of,  36,  49,  50. 

electors  of,  50,  51. 
Decision,  judicial,  208,  209. 

reversed,  233,  234. 
Decrees,  divine,  297,  306. 
Delegates  to  corresponding  Churches,  434 
to  452. 

expenses  of,  452. 

right  of  voting,  167,  437,  439,  440. 
Delinquent  Church  members,  45,  46. 
Demission  of  the  ministry,  65,  66,  67-70. 
Deposition  and  excommunication,  202. 
Deposition  from  the  ministry,  123,  214. 

for  worldliness,  65,  67. 

prevarication,  199. 

heresy,  211,  220. 

adultery,  223,  247,  248. 
Deposed  minister, 

ministrations  of,  93,  96. 

name  to  be  published,  202. 

jurisdiction  over,  126. 
Depravity,  total,  24. 
Desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  249-253. 
Devotional  exercises,  committee  on,  178. 
Directory  for  worship,  19,  22. 

amended  and  adopted,  28,  586. 

Chap,  vii,  sec.  1,  96. 
"      vii,  sec.  4,  98. 
DISCIPLINE,  191-236. 

general  principles  of,  191-209. 

of  absent  Church  members,  41-45. 

of  candidates,  77,  78. 

of  baptized  children,  100,  101,  102. 

of  elders,  106,    124. 

of  non-residents,  122,  123. 

of  ministers,  112,  122. 

without  trial,  112,  113,  134,  142,  192, 
193,  200,  205. 

irregular,  198,  200,  212. 

for  Sabbath-breaking,  248,  249,  255. 

for  dancing,  264. 

for  duelling,  266. 
Dismission,  letter  of,  127. 

of  members  of  Presbytery,  114,  115, 
127,  128. 

not  by  a  committee,  127,  128. 

when  it  takes  effect,  126,  127,  221. 
Dissent,  right  of,  171. 
Dissent  of  Wm.  Holmes  et  al.,  43. 
Dissolution  of  pastoral  relation,  60. 

of  the  3d  Presbytery,  492. 
Divinity,  time  of  study,  75,  76,  417. 
DIVISION  OP  THE  CHURCH,  469-562. 

plan  of  voluntary,  473-483. 

excision  of  the  Synods,  483-484. 

dissolution  of  3d  Presbytery,  492. 


DIVISION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

pastoral  letter,  1837,  495-499. 

circular  letter,  499-506. 

Assembly  of  1838,  506-519. 

records  demanded  and  refused,  519, 
520. 

committee  of  twelve,  521. 

pastoral  letter  of  1838,  522-526. 

Committee  of  Twelve,  526-530. 

articles  of  agreement  proposed,  528- 
529. 

charge  of  the  court,  530-549. 

declaration  of  1839,  549-557. 

suits  withdrawn,  557. 

roll  rectified,  557. 

proposal  to  commune,  558-560. 

committee  of  correspondence,  561. 

detail  of  efforts,  561,  562. 

appendix,  legal  decisions,  607-619. 
Divorce,  223,  245,  248. 

what  is  just  ground,  246,  247. 
DOCTRINES,  DELIVERANCES  ON,  296-31-8. 
Doctrinal  tracts,  353-355. 

committee  on,  394-398. 
DOMESTIC  MISSIONS,.  319-341. 
Duelling,  266. 
Duellists,  266. 
Dushane,  Anthony,  239. 
Duffield,  George,  113. 


EDUCATION  FOR  THE  MINISTRY,  341-343. 

liberal  required,  73-75,  93,  417. 

.waived,  74,  75. 

Board  of,  341-343. 

American,  Society,  332,  343. 
EDUCATION  COMMITTEE,  410-423. 

name  and  quorum,  410. 

powers  and  functions,  411,  413,  414. 

plan,  413-416,  419,  422,  423. 

rules,  416-418. 

beneficiaries   of,    411,   416-418,    420, 
423. 

rate  of  aid,  417,  422. 

charter  of,  420,  421. 

scholarships,  415,  423. 
Education  Committee,  standing,  177. 
ELDERS,  RULING,  48-57. 

must  be  duly  elected,  49. 

mode  of  election,  49,  50. 

mode  of  ordination,  48. 

electors  of,  50,  51. 

office  of,  perpetual,  52,  53. 

may  cease  to  act,  53,  54. 

without  charge,  54,  112. 

hold  office  in  but  one  Church,  54. 

right  of,  to  sit  in  Synod,  55. 

suspended,  56,  201. 

restoration  to  office,  56,  201. 

part  of,  in  ordination,  56,  57. 

jurisdiction  of,  107. 

may  not  be  dismissed,  109. 

jurisdiction  over,  124,  289. 


-10 


626 


INDEX. 


Eldership  essential,  49. 

disuse  of,  312. 
Elect,  the,  317. 

Election,  Divine,  297,  306,  313,  315. 
Election  of  deacons,  36,  49,  50. 
of  elders,  36,  49,  50,  52. 
of  pastors,  58,  59. 

of  moderator  of  Assembly,  167,  168. 
of  trustees  of  Assembly,  187,  188. 
of  Church  Extension,  370. 
Election  of  trustees, 

of  Church  Erection,  378,  379,  384. 
of  Presbyterian  House,  407. 
of  Education  Committee,  411. 
Elective  affinity,  128,  129,  311. 
Electors  of  elders  and  deacons,  50,  51. 

of  pastors,  59. 

Enrolment  of  members,  602. 
Evangelical  Consociation  of  R.  I.,  443. 
Lutheran  Church,  448. 
Churches  of  France,  451. 
Evangelists,  312,  321. 

duties  of,  38,  320,  322,  364. 
EVANGELIZATION,  MODES  OF,  319-360. 
Evidence  under  oath,  197. 

the  best  required,  214,  215,  216,  218. 
of  a  complaint,  229. 
of  an  appeal,  195. 
Evil  speaking,  193,  207. 
Examination, 

of  ministers,  113,  116,  117,  118. 
of  candidates,  23,  114,  116,  118. 
Exceptions  to  records, 

Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 

42. 

Western  Reserve,  49. 
Illinois,  90,  137,  140,  141. 
Albany,  121,  139. 
Genesee,  135,  222. 
Michigan,  137. 
Kentucky,  138,  140,  141. 
Pittsburg,  139. 
Ohio,  126,  139. 
Pennsylvania,  139, 140,  141. 
Indiana,  139,  235. 
North  Carolina,  139. 
.  Peoria,  139,  140,  141. 
Tennessee,  140,  141. 
Minnesota,  140. 
Cincinnati.  140,  222. 
Wabash,  140. 
Virginia,  141,  216. 
Carolinas,  142. 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 

166. 

Utica,  195,  214,  228. 
Geneva,  202,  222,  234. 
New  York,  222. 
Exclusion  from  communion, 
without  trial,  134,  193. 
for  unlawful  marriages,  237,  241,  244. 
for  violation  of  the  Sabbath,  248,  249. 
Excommunication,  202. 


Expenses  attending  Synods,  55. 
Experimental  religion, 

examination  on,  113,  116,  117,  118. 
EXSCINDING  ACTS,  471-494. 

Faith  and  election,  297,  313,  315. 
and  regeneration,  303,  313. 
a  holy  act,  303. 
an  act  of  the  mind,  310,  314. 
saving,  314,  317. 
the  work  of  the  Spirit,  310,  317. 
Family  visitation,  61. 
worship,  61. 
instruction,  571. 

FASTING  AND  PRAYER,  258,  575-580. 
Federal  head,  297,  300,  310,  315. 
Foreign  ministers,  117-122. 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS,  343-348,  424-433. 
committee,  standing,  179,  180. 
permanent,  424-433. 
Foreign  Presbyteries,  427,  429,  430,  433. 
Foreknowledge  and  election,  297,  313,  315. 
Form  of  Government,  adopted,  26. 
amendments,  585-602. 
chapter  i,  sec.  2,  458. 

ii,  sec.  4,  35,  49. 
"        iii,  sec.  5,  49. 
iv,  38. 
v,  49,  51. 
v,  sees.  3,  4,  123. 
v,  sec.  9,  470. 
vi,  47. 

ix,  sees.  1,  2,  49,  57. 
ix,  sees.  1,  2,  4,  57. 
ix,  sec.  2,  56,  63,  105,112,128. 
x,  587. 

x,  sees.  1,  2,  126,  466. 
x,  sees.  2-7,  57. 
x,  sec.  4,  55,  63. 
x,  sec.  5,  56,  63. 
x,  sec.  8,  38,  65.  109. 
x,  sec.  12,  113,  586. 
xi,  sees.  1,  2,  57,  135. 
xi,  sec.  7,  598,  599. 
xii,  sec.  1,  469. 
xii,  sec.  2,  57,  158,  594,  597, 

600. 

xii,  sec.  4,  458,  587,592,  600. 
xii,  sec.  5,  287,  290,  468. 
xii,  sec.  6,  457,  466,  596. 
xii,  sec.  7,  589,  591,  597,  598, 

599,  600. 
xii,  sec.  8,  597. 
xiii,  sec.  2,  49,  50,  587. 
xiii,  sec.  4,  48. 
xiii    sees.  6,  7,  52,  53. 
32,  115. 
sec.  1,  58. 
sec.  2,  79,  413. 
sec.  6,  76,  590,  591. 
xv,  32,  115. 
xv,  sec.  4,  60. 
xv,  sec.  14,  57. 


INDEX. 


627 


Form  of  Government, 

chapter  xv,  sec.  15,  38. 
'         xvi,  sec.  2,  60. 
'         xvii,  60. 
4         xviii,  368,  468. 

xxii,  sec.  1,  162,  163. 
'         xxii,  sec.  3,  180. 
Fund,  commissioners,  180-183. 

contingent,  182,  183. 
Funeral  of  duellists,  266. 

Gambling  and  lotteries,  264,  265. 
Gaston,  James,  240,  243. 
GENERAL  ASSEMBLY,  155-190. 

formation  of,  155,  156. 

organization,  156. 

commissioners  to,  157-166,  593. 

corresponding  members,  166,  167. 

delegates  to,  167,  437,  440-443,  452. 

moderator  of,  156,  167,  172,  173. 

clerks  of,  174-176. 

committees  of,  176-180. 

commissioners'  fund,  180-183. 

contingent  fund,  183. 

minutes,  183,  184. 

charter,  184-187. 

trustees,  187-189. 

powers,  18,  34,  113,  189,  190,  286-291. 

of  1838,  organization,  506-519. 

triennial,  595-599. 
General  Association, 

of  Connecticut,  340,  436-439. 

plan  of  correspjjjidence,  436,  437. 

conference  with,  438,  439. 

"Plan  of  Union,"  452-469. 

of  Massachusetts,  340,  441,  444-446. 

of  New  Hampshire,  340,  440,  444,  445. 

of  New  York,  449,  450. 
General  Conference 

of  Maine,  340,  441-443. 
General  Convention 

of  Vermont,  340,  439,  444,  445. 

plan  of  correspondence,  440. 
Genesee,  Synod  of,  145,  483. 
Geneva,  Synod  of,  144,  483. 
German  Reformed  Synod,  447. 

plan  of  correspondence,  447,  448. 
Gibson,  Judge,  opinion  of,  in  Church  case, 

605-613. 
"       charge  of,  in  York  Church 

case,  614-618. 

Gilbert,  E.  W.,  complaint  of,  229,  234. 
Giles,  Chloe  G.,  213. 
Glebe,  573. 
Glenn,  Robert,  113. 
Gloucester,  John.  75. 
Good  standing,  116,  128. 

forfeiture  of,  45,  116,  202. 
"  Gospel  plan,"  302,  303. 
Grace,  work  of,  24. 
Graham,  William,  196. 
Griffith,  John.  74. 
Guilt,  imputation  of,  311,  313. 


Harker,  Samuel,  296,  297. 

Harney,   .  222. 

Hayden,  Daniel,  231. 
Hawes,  Newton,  200. 
Heathen,  missions  to,  343-346. 
Hell  torments,  297,  299. 
Heresy,  charges  of,  126,  194. 

conviction  of,  304,  308. 
Hindman,  Francis,  80,  81,  192,  205. 
Hobbs,  Benedict,  213. 
Holy  Spirit, 

agency  in  regeneration,  24,  304,  305, 
317. 

mode  of  operation,  305. 
Home  missions,  319-341. 
Horse  racing,  264. 
Hymns,  580,  582,  584. 

Ignorance  of  rules,  effect  of,  213. 
Immediate  agency,  304. 
Imposition  of  hands,  48,  56,  57,  85. 
Impostor,  ministrations  of,  94,  96. 
Imputation, 

of  Christ's  righteousness,  24,  310,  311, 
313,  314,  316. 

of  sin,  300,  311,  313.  316. 

of  the  benefits  of  Christ's  righteous 
ness,  300. 

of  guilt,  311. 
Incestuous  marriages,  237,  239,  240,  241, 

243,  244. 

Indefinite  postponement,  231,  604. 
Indians,  mission  to,  344,  345. 
Infancy,  period  of,  99. 
Infant  baptism,  94-101. 

scruples  concerning,  39. 

schools,  571. 
Infants,  salvation  of,  301. 

moral  character,  313,  315. 

relation   to  moral   government,   313. 
316. 

need  redemption,  316. 
Infidelity.  298,  299. 
INTEMPERANCE,  257-262. 
Intercession  of  Christ,  314,  317. 
Interlocutory  meetings,  605. 
Intoxication,  199. 
Irregularity,  technical,  225. 

does  not  invalidate,   52,   60,   81,   96 

112,  205,  206. 
Irregularities  censured,  192,  194,  195   196 

198,  200,  222,  226,  233,  311,  312. 
Itinerant  missionaries,  320,  364. 

JUDICATORIES,  RULES  FOR,   602,   606. 

Judicial  Committee,  168,  177,  605. 

testimony,  197. 

sessions,  605. 
Jurisdiction  of  the  Assembly,  see  Powers. 

appellate,  587-592.  595. 

of  the  Synod,  132. 

over  members  of  Presbytery,  114,  137. 


628 


INDEX. 


Jurisdiction,  appellate  and  original,  138, 

195,  196,  200. 

of  the  Presbytery,  122-127,  289. 
over  candidates,  77,  78. 
over  members,  non-resident,  122,  123, 

131. 

over  ministers,  W.  C.,  64,  125. 
over  elders,  124. 
over  ministers  of  other  Presbyteries, 

125,  126. 

over  a  disciplined  minister,  126,  128. 
over  one  withdrawn,  125. 
over  one  dismissed,  126,  127. 
Jurisdiction  of  the  Session, 
over  candidates,  77,  78. 
over  Church  members,  195,  233,  283, 

289. 
Jurisdiction,    renunciation    of,   124,    125, 

203. 

transfer  of,.  123. 
Justification  by  faith,   24,  300,  302,  307, 

311. 
grounds  of,  310,  311,  318. 

Kelso,  appeal  of,  50. 

Kentucky,  Synod  of,  143,  565,  567. 

King,  A.,  222. 

Knox,  Franklin,  232. 

Laing,  Robert,  65,  67. 

Laity,  candidates  and  licentiates,  77. 

Lane  Seminary  case,  618,  619. 

Larger  Catechism,  18,  19,  21,  22,  26,  32, 

33,  34. 

Latham,  John,  242. 
Lay.agency,  83,  84. 

preaching,  82,  83. 

ordination,  93. 

Laying  on  of  hands,  48,  56,  57,  85. 
Leave  of  absence,  175,  179. 
Lecturing,  61. 
Legislative  power,  18,  609. 
Levitical  law,  238,  239,  241,  242,  244. 
Liberia,  358,  359. 
Liberty  of  the  will,  314,  315,  317. 
Libraries,  congregational,  574. 
Licensure  by  another  Presbytery,  79,  80. 

irregularities  in,  81,  311. 

preaching  before,  83. 

by  a  committee,  84. 

irregular,  not  invalid,  81. 
Licentiates  belong  to  the  laity,  77. 

amenable  to  the  Session,  77,  289. 

license  withdrawn,  78. 

how  received,  32,  115. 

foreign,  117-122. 

of  corresponding  Churches,  437,  439, 

442,  445. 
Limitation  of  time. 

of  prosecuting  an  appeal,  211,  212. 

of  lodging  notice,  195,  214. 

of  lodging  the  appeal,  213. 
Lord's  supper,  103.  104. 


Lotteries,  264,  265. 

Lowry,  Samuel,  106,  217,  218. 

Lutheran  Church,  448. 

Magistrates'  power  over  the  Church,  19 

prayer  for,  580. 
Mail,  Sunday,  249,  254. 

stages,  owners  of,  249. 
Maine,  Conference  of,  340,  441,  443. 
MARRIAGE,  223,  237,  248. 

with  a  brother's  widow,  237,  238. 

with  a  wife's  sister,  238,  239,  240. 

with  a  niece  by  marriage,  242,  243. 

with  a  sister's  daughter,  244. 

with  a  divorced  woman,  247. 

engagements  of,  244,  245. 

publication  of  purpose,  245. 

sacredness  of,  248. 
Massachusetts, 

Association  of,  340.  441,  444-446. 
McCalla,  William  L.,  82,  83,  104,  192. 
McCoy,  James,  80. 
McDowell,  Wm.  S.,  233,  235. 
McLean,  John,  79,  80. 
Mediate  agency,  305. 
MEMBERS  OF  THE  CHURCH,  38-46. 

received  by  certificate,  41,  80,  443. 

absent,  41,  42,  45. 

responsibility  of,  42. 

who  wish  to  be  released,  45. 

who  withdraw,  125. 
Methodist  ministers,  91,  92. 
Mileage,  Committee  on,  179-182. 
Miller,  Alexander,  200,  203. 
MINISTERS  WITHOUT  CHARGE,  63-72. 

rights  of  in  Church  courts,  63,  64,  112. 

under  inspection  of  Presbytery,  65,  69. 

who  withdraw  from  the  work,  64,  65, 
125. 

demission  of  office,  65—70. 

holding  civil  office,  70. 
Ministers  deposed, 

ministrations  of,  93,  96. 

jurisdiction  over,  126. 

dismissed  by  an  extinct  Presbytery, 
114. 

dismissed  in  good  standing,  116. 

dismissed,  jurisdiction  over,  126,  127. 

received  from  other  Churches,  92,  93, 
115,  439,  443. 

foreign,  rule  as  to,  117-122. 

suspended,  standing  of,  95,  202. 

decease  of,  178. 
Ministry,  demission  of,  65-70. 

support  of,  573—575. 
Minors,  right  to  vote,  51. 
Minutes  of  the  Assembly,  174,  182,  183. 

publication  and  price,  183. 

to  whom  sent,  182,  183,  184. 

of  Synod,  138-141. 
Missionaries,  domestic,  319-341. 

duties  of,  320-322,  325. 

compensation  of,  321,  322,  323. 


INDEX. 


629 


Missionaries,  instructions  of,  324. 

commission,  325. 

kind  required,  325. 

to  the  Indians,  344,  345. 

foreign,  344,  345. 
MISSIONS,  DOMESTIC,  319-341. 

Plan  of,  321,  322. 

Standing  Committee  on,  326. 

enlarged,  327. 

Board  of,   327,  329-331. 
MISSIONS,  FOREIGN,  343-348. 

Committee  on,  424-433. 
Mitchell,  Charles,  242. 
Mode  of  baptism,  102. 
MODES  OF  EVANGELIZATION,  319-360. 
Moderator,  powers  and  duties,   136,  137, 
168-171,    539-544,    602-606,    608- 
612. 

right  to  vote,  171,  172,  605. 

to  administer  an  oath,  196,  197. 

when  he  may  not  preside,  221. 

of  the   Assembly,   mode   of  election, 
167. 

mode  of  induction,  167-172. 

"last  present,"  173. 
Montgomery,  Joseph,  66,  68. 
Monthly  concert,  577. 
Moral  agency,  314,  315. 
MORAL  QUESTIONS,  237-295. 
Motions,  rules  regarding,  169,  603. 

Names  of  absentees  recorded,  141. 
Narrative  of  the  state  of  religion,  141. 

Committee  on,  178. 
Newcastle,  Church  of,  234. 
New  Hampshire, 

Association  of,  340,  440,  444,  445. 
New  trial,  193,  196,  199,  200,  205. 
New  York,  Association  of,  449,  450. 
Non-resident  members, 

of  churches,  41-45. 

of  Presbytery,  122,  123,  131. 
Notes  on  the  Constitution,  29,  30. 
Notice  of  appeal,  195,  214,  215. 

of  complaint,  229,  230. 

Oath,  judicial,  196,  197. 

testimony  under,  197,  198. 
Obedience  of  Christ,  302,  318. 

to  the  moral  law,  302. 
OFFICERS  OF  THE  CHURCH,  47-72. 
Ordinances,  sealing, 

administration,  96,  97,  104,  320,  322. 

admission  to,  57,  93,  98,  243. 
ORDINATION,  69,  85-94. 

of  deacons,  36,  48. 

of  elders,  36,  48,  320,  322. 

of  candidates,  81,  88. 

by  a  committee,  85,  86. 

irregular  not  invalid,  81,  92. 

by  foreign  bodies,  86,  87,  438,  439. 

sine  titulo,  72,  87,  88,  89,  90. 

part  of  elders  in,  57. 


ORDINATION. 

on  the  Sabbath,  91. 

lay,  invalid,  93. 

Organization  of  churches,  36,  37,  38,  320, 
322. 

of  General  Assembly,  156. 

of  Assembly  of  1838,  506-519. 
Original  parties,  who?  210. 

when  to  be  heard,  222,  236. 
Original  sin,  300,  301,  307,  313,  315,  316. 
Orthodoxy,  who  to  judge  of,  331. 
Overtures,  Committee  on,  168,  176. 

Parents,  duties  of,  62,  100,  571,  572. 

engagement  of,  in  baptism,  97,  98. 
Parish  Psalmody,  401. 
Parsonage,  573. 
PASTOR,  58-63. 

order  of  election,  58,  59. 

translation  of,  60. 

removal,  60,  61. 

duties  of,  61,  62,  99, 100,  132,  570-573. 

support  of,  573-575. 
Pastoral  office,  62,  63. 

neglect  of,  312. 

frequent  change,  312. 

relation,  dissolution  of,  60. 

letters,  495-499,  522-526. 
Pastorate  without  instalment,  60. 
Penalty  of  the  law,  311,  316. 
Permanent  clerk,  161,  167. 

appointment  and  duties,  169,  175. 

salary,  176. 
PERMANENT  COMMITTEES,  361-433. 

preliminary,  361-367. 

Church  Extension.  368-375. 

Church  Erection,  375-393. 

Publication,  394-404. 

Presbyterian  House,  404-409. 

Education,  410-423. 

Foreign  Missions,  424-433. 
Plan  of  Union  of  1758,  21-25. 
PLAN  OF  UNION  OF  1801,  453-469. 

first  proposition,  453,  454. 

plan,  454,  455. 

request  to  annul,  456. 

abrogated,  456-457. 

protest  against,  457-461. 

answer,  462-469. 

commissioners  under,  164,  165,  166. 
Polity,  Committee  on,  177. 
Poor,  47,  48. 

Postmasters  and  the  Sabbath,  40,  248,  249. 
Postponement,  indefinite,  170,  231,  604. 

of  an  appeal,  215,  216. 

of  a  complaint,  231. 
Powers  of  the  Assembly,  189. 

to  make  standing  rules,  34,  466. 

in  receiving  foreign  ministers,    119, 
120. 

to  transfer  jurisdiction,  123,  189. 

over  Presbyteries,  158,  189,  194. 

over  Synods    189,  483,  484. 


630 


INDEX. 


Powers  of  the  Assembly, 

over  missions,  189,  317-340. 
to  decide  in  controversy,  190. 
to  bear  testimony,  190,  287,  313. 
over  judgments  of  former  Assemblies, 

208. 

as  to  slavery,  286-291. 
to  reprove  and  warn,  287. 
in  discipline,  288,  289. 
to  condemn  books,  303,  308,  309. 
over  the  raising  of  funds,  324. 
Powers  of  the  Synod, 

to  censure  a  Presbytery,  112. 
in  receiving  foreign  ministers,  119, 120. 
in  transferring  churches,  132. 
over  church  covenants,  134. 
in  discipline,  195,  196,  227. 
to  dissolve  a  Presbytery,  234. 
Powers  of  the  Presbytery, 
in  settling  a  pastor,  59. 
to  judge  of  its  members,  112-114, 116, 

165,  202. 

to  reject  an  applicant,  113,  116. 
to  examine  witnesses,  123. 
to  try  elders,  124. 
to  organize  churches,  38. 
to  inspect  its  members,  65,   66,   125, 

132. 

to  visit  churches,  109. 
to  commence  process,  289. 
to  remove  a  stated  supply,  63. 
Powers  of  the- Session, 

in  restoring  an  elder,  56,  201. 

in  reference  to  Psalmody,  108. 

in  discipline,  44,   106,   195,  204,  226, 

242,  264. 
in  restoring  to  church  privileges,  238, 

241. 

to  commence  process,  289. 
over  collections  ordered,  323. 
Powers  of  Church  Extension  Committee, 

337,  369,  371. 
of  Church  Erection  Committee,  378- 

384,  388,  389. 
of  Publication  Committee,  395,  396, 

398,  400. 

of  Trustees  of  the  House,  400,  407. 
of  Education  Committee,  413. 
of  Foreign  Missions  Committee,  424, 

425. 
Prayer  at  the  opening  and  close  of  sessions, 

140,  602,  606. 

for  the  Assembly,  178,  575. 
for  colleges,  419.  579. 
for  magistrates,  580. 
special  seasons  of,  576. 
concert  of,  577. 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world,  577- 

579. 

and  fasting,  85,  575-580. 
Preaching  without  license,  82,  83. 
Presbyterian  Church  case,  527-549,  557, 

607--619. 


PRESBYTERIAN  HOUSE,  396.  404-409. 

trustees  of,  405-408. 

charter  of,  408,  409. 
PRESBYTERY,  THE,  110-134. 

duties  of,  in  settling  pastors,  59. 

as  to  ministers  Avithout  charge,  64,  65, 
66,  69,  125. 

as  to  candidates,  77,  78,  85. 

to  review  session  books,  107,  108. 

as  to  non-residents,  131. 

as  to  missions,  364. 

in  the  instruction  of  youth,   571-573. 

members  of,  111-122. 

elders,  111,  112. 

ministers  without  charge,  112. 

of  an  extinct  Presbytery,  114. 

who  withdraw,  124,  125. 

dismission  of  members,  127-128. 

must  specify,  127. 

not  by  committee,  127,  128. 

boundaries  of,  128-132. 

dissolution  of,  234,  492. 

see  "  Powers  of." 
Prevarication,  199. 
Previous  question,  169,  172,  603. 
Price,  David,  199,  204. 
Priestley,  Dr.  Joseph,  95. 
Principals  and  alternates,  161-163. 
Process    commencement  of,  289,  470. 

delay  of,  128. 
Profession  of  religion,  41. 
Prohibitory  laws,  260,  261. 
Proof  texts,  27,  28,  29. 
Prosecution,  Committee  of,  606. 
Protest,  right  of,  22,  171. 

against  an  appeal,  211,  212. 

in  Sheldon's  case,  223,  224. 

against  the  "memorial,"  314-318. 

on  abrogating  the  Plan  of  Union,  457- 
461. 

of  Synod  of  Western  Reserve,  484-485. 

of  Synods  of  Utica,  &c.,  488-490. 

on  the  dissolution  of  3d  Presbytery. 
493-494. 

on  the  action  at  Cleveland,  563,  564. 
Protestation  of  1741,  23. 
PSALMODY,  580-585. 

parish,  401. 

power  of  Sessions  over,  108. 

narrative  of,  580,  581. 

psalms  and  hymns,  582. 

Church  Psalmist,  398,  582,  583. 

Book  of  Tunes,  584,  585. 
PUBLICATION  COMMITTEE,  394-404. 

standing,  177. 

appointment,  395. 

powers  and  duties,  395,  396,  399,  400. 

enlarged,  396,  397. 

name  changed,  398. 

publication  of,  402-404. 

depositories,  404. 

Questions  in  thesi,  190. 


INDEX. 


631 


Quorum,  less  than,  may  adjourn,  136,  602. 
of  Session,  56,  105. 
of  Presbytery,  135. 
of  Synod,  136. 
of  the  Assembly,  158,  168. 
of  Church  Extension  Committee,  370. 
of  Church  Erection  Committee,  390. 
of  Publication  Committee,  397. 
of  Education  Committee,  411. 

Ratio  of  commissioners  to  Assembly,  158, 

159,  593,  594. 
Re-baptism,  96. 
Reconsideration  of  a  vote,  170,  603. 

of  judicial  action,  205.  206,  207. 

barred  by  an  appeal,  207. 
Records  of  Session,  107,  108. 

of  Synod,  review  of,  138. 

who  vote  on  approval,  138. 

must  be  specific,  139-142. 

see  "Exceptions  to,"  626. 

to  be  sent  up  in  judicial  cases,   214- 
216,  218. 

effect  of,  neglect,  215,  219,  231. 

a  copy,  not  sufficient,  218. 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  452. 
Regeneration  and  conversion,  301. 

the  work  of  the  Spirit,  304,  305,  314, 
317. 

instantaneous,  317. 

nature  of,  317. 

and  faith,  304. 
Re-ordination,  91,  93. 
Repentance  and  faith,  301. 

evidence  of,  required,  123,  204,  238. 
Representation  in  church  courts,  110. 
Restoration  to  the  ministry,  123,  196,  199, 
201,  204,  205,  301. 

to  the  eldership,  56,  201. 

to  communion,  56,  201,  207,  215,  219, 
239. 

evidence  of  repentance  required,  123, 

204,  233. 
Revivals,  24,  576. 
Rice,  Matthew  II.,  217, 
Righteousness  of  Christ,  24,  300,  302,  310, 

311,  313,  314,  318. 
Rodgers,  Judge,   charge  in  Church  case, 

530-549. 

Roll,  striking  from,  66,  69,  124,  125,  137, 
568 

must  be  called  on  trial,  222,  223,  227. 

adjustment  of,  557,  558,  567. 
Romans,  Barnes  on,  307,  308. 
Romish  baptism,  97. 
Rotary  eldership,  53. 
Rules,  standing,  34,  35. 
Rules  of  the  General  Assembly,  168-171. 

modification  of,  172. 

for  judicatories,  172,  602-606. 

of  the  Church  Extension  Committee, 
374,  375. 

of  the   Church  Erection  Committee, 


RULING  ELDERS,  48-57. 

SABBATH,  248-256. 

violations  of,  40,  248,  249,  251. 

ordinations  on,  91 . 

sessions  of  Synod  on,  139. 

postmasters  officiating  on,  40,  248. 

mail  stages,  40,  249,  253. 

profanation  of,  249-256. 

travelling  on,  251. 

discipline  enjoined,  251,  255,  256. 

observance  of.  253,  254. 
SACRAMENTS,  94-104. 

where  there  is  no  church,  103. 

without  consent  of  the  Session,  104. 

by  missionaries,  320,  322. 
Scholarships,  423. 
Scripture  proofs,  27-29. 
Scruples,  18,  19,  39. 

SECESSION  OF  SOUTHERN  CHURCHES,  563- 
568. 

protest  of,  563,  564. 

withdrawal  of,  565. 

roll  corrected,  567. 
Secreta.-y  of  Permanent  Committees,  167. 

of  Education  Committee,  411,  412. 

of  Church  Erection,  392. 
Sentence,  copy  of,  194. 

disproportioned,  199,  226. 

unconstitutional,  200. 

must  be  precise,  222. 

in  force  till  the  case  is  issued,  196,  220. 

insubordination  does  not  invalidate, 
203. 

of  other  bodies  respected,  209. 
SESSION,  105-110. 

quorum,  56,  105. 

special,  unconstitutional,  106,  206. 

corresponding  members  of,  107. 

moderator  of,  108. 
duties  of, 

in  admitting  to  membership,  39,  40. 

to  take  oversight  of  the  Church,  41. 

as  to  absent  members,  41,  42-45. 

in  the  election  of  elders,  50. 

in  the  election  of  pastors,  58. 

in  restoring  an  elder,  56,  204. 

in  restoring  to  Church  privileges,  238, 
241. 

when  the  church  is  vacant,  58,  108. 

as  to  candidates,  77,  78,  85. 

in  admitting  to  sealing  ordinances,  57, 
93,  96,  97,  98,  99,  243. 

as  to  baptized  children,  100,  568. 

in  administering  ordinances,  104. 

in  the  discipline  of  Church  members, 
44,  106,  204,  226,  242,  264. 

to  be  represented  in  Church  courts, 
106,  109. 

in  improper  marriages,  241,  242,  243. 

in  suppressing  Sabbath-breaking,  251, 
256. 

as  to  slavery,  272,  274,  293. 

in  raising  funds,  360. 


632 


INDEX. 


SESSION. 

duties  of,  in  catechizing,  571,  572,  573. 
Sheldon,  George,  223,  248. 
Shepherd,  John,  204,  205. 
Shields,  James  H.,  126,  247. 
Sin,  original,  300,  301,  307,  313,  315,  316. 

of  Adam,  300,  310,  313,  315. 

imputation  of,  300,  311,  313,  316. 

existence  of,  303. 

wilful  and  habitual,  313,  315. 
Sine  t it-it lo  ordination,  72,  87-90. 
Slander,  193,  194. 
Slaveholding,  271,  283,  285,  287,  293. 

holder,  134,  295. 

communion  with,  268,  270,  271. 

trade,  359. 

selling  one,   a  Church  member,   272, 

274. 

SLAVERY,  266-295,  358,  563-565. 
Slaves,  baptism  of,  98,  99. 
Snodgrass,  Dr.  James,  212. 
Socinianism,  95,  297. 
Spicer,  Jabez,  199. 
Standard  of  right  and  wrong,  302. 
STANDARDS  OF  THE  CHURCH,  17-35. 

subscription  to,  17,  18,  20,  32. 

how  to  be  adopted,  311,  312. 
Standing  Committee,  165,  166,  176-180. 

rules,  34,  35,  167. 
Stated  clerk  of  Assembly, 

appointment,  174. 

duties,  157,  160,  161,  174,  175,  181, 
183,  365,  379. 

privileges,  167. 

salary,  175. 
Stated  clerk  of  Synod,  duties,   141,   377, 

381. 
Stated  supply,  55,  89. 

has  no  pastoral  relation,  62. 
Stenographer,  exclusion  of,  226. 
Striking  from  the  roll,  66,  69,  137. 

for  irregular  withdrawing,  124,  125. 
Study,  time  of,  75,  76,  417. 

refusal  to  alter,  590,  591. 
Subscription  to  the  standards,  18,  20,  32. 
Sufferings  of  Christ,  311,  313. 

vicarious,  316. 
Sunday  mails,  249,  254. 

Schools,  62,  355,  362,  568-573. 
Sunday-School  Union,  355,  356,  570,  571. 
SUPPORT  OF  THE  MINISTRY,  573-575. 
Suspended  minister,  services  of,  95. 

standing,  202. 
Suspension  from  Church  privileges,  56. 

for  wilful  absence,  42,  43. 

not  without  trial,  45,  194. 

for  unlawful  marriage,  237,  239,  241. 
from  the  ministry,  248. 

without  trial,  45,  192. 

for  contumacy,  194,  198,  223. 

during  process,  200. 

for  a  specified  time,  201. 
from  office.  56. 


SYNOD,  THE,  135-154. 

meetings,  special,  136,  593. 

time  of,   137. 

records  to  be  sent  up  annually,  138. 

report  to  General  Assembly,  138. 

must  record  reasons  of  censure,   139, 
236. 

meetings    to    open    and    close    with 
prayer,  140,  602,  606. 

minutes   to   be   read   and   approved. 
140,  141. 

absentees  called  to  answer,  141,  142. 

power  to  examine  witnesses,  232. 
Synod  of  German  Reformed  Church,  447. 

of  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  448. 

of  Associate  Reformed  Church,  451. 

of  Reformed  Church,  452. 
Synods,  erection  of, 

Albany,  143,  144. 

Alabama,  149. 

Alta  California,  154. 

Carolinas,  142. 

Chesapeake,  148. 

Cincinnati,  147. 

Delaware,  148,  149. 

Genesee,  145. 

Geneva,  144. 

Illinois,   148. 

Indiana,  146. 

Iowa,  152. 

Kentucky,  143. 

Michigan,  148. 

Minnesota,  634. 

Mississippi  and  South  Alabama,   147. 

Missouri,  148. 

Newark,  149,  150. 

New  Jersey,  146. 

New  York  and  New  Jersey,  142,  151. 

New  York,  145. 

North  Carolina,  144. 

Ohio,  144. 

Onondaga,  153. 

Pennsylvania,  149. 

Peoria,  151. 

Philadelphia,  142. 

Pittsburg,  143. 

South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  144. 

Susquehanna,  152. 

Tennessee,  145. 

Utica,  147. 

Virginia,  142. 

Wabash,  152. 

Western  Reserve,  146. 

West  Pennsylvania,  151. 

West  Tennessee,  146. 

Wisconsin,  154. 
SYSTEMATIC  BENEFICENCE,  359,  360. 

Tappan,  Lewis,  217,  225,  226. 
Taylor,  R.,  213. 

James,  216. 
Temperance,  257-262. 

societies,  258,  259. 


INDEX. 


Temperance  laws,  260. 

total  abstinence,  259,  260,  261. 
Temporalities  of  the  Church,  47. 
Temporary  clerks,  176. 
Testimony,  verbal,  130,  165,  195. 

in  judicial  cases,  197. 

of  husband  and  wife,  198. 

new,  205,  206,  225. 

in  the  absence  of  the  accused,  223. 

what  rejected,  207,  208,  220. 

to  be  sent  up  on  appeal,  215-219. 

effect  of  failure  to  send  up,  215-219. 

copy  made  by  appellant,  218. 

not  of  record,  219. 

against  doctrinal  errors,  312-314. 
THEATRE,  262,  263. 
Time,  limitation  of,  195,  211-214. 

of  study,  75,  76,  417. 
Total  abstinence,  258,  259,  260. 
Tracts,  distribution  of,  353,  354. 

societies,  355,  356. 
Transfer  of  jurisdiction,  123. 

of  ministers,  131,  132. 

of  churches,  132. 

of  sin  or  righteousness,  300,  311,  316, 
318. 

of  moral  qualities,  311,  316. 
Translation  of  a  pastor,  60,  61. 
Travelling  on  the  Sabbath,  251,  255. 
Trial,  who  may  act  as  counsel,  107. 

censure  without,  192,  193. 

charges  must  be  specific,  194. 

rules  must  be  observed,  194-196,  226, 
233. 

notice  must  be  given,  192,  195,  214, 
215,  229. 

evidence  of  notice,  195,  214,  215. 

may  not  be  on  review,  196. 

must  be  orderly,  196. 

new,  193,  196,  205,  206,  226. 

unreasonably  deferred,  128. 

presence  of  the  accused,  198. 

personal  attendance,  213. 

best  evidence  required,   218. 

testimony  not  of  record,  219. 

who  may  sit,  107,  221,  222. 

death  of  respondent  bars,  222. 


Trial,  an  express  vote  required,  222. 

the  records  must  be  read,  235. 

characters  of  the   absent   protected, 
235. 

when  a  minister  should  preside,  109. 

postponed,  215. 
Trustees  of  a  church,  48. 

of  the  General  Assembly,  184-189. 

of  the  Church   Erection   Fund,  378. 
379. 

of  the  Presbyterian  House,  405-408. 

Unitarians'  baptism,  95. 

doctrine,  298,  299. 

United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  347. 
United  Synod,  565,  567. 
Universalists,  38,  39,  298. 
Universal  salvation,  38,  39,  297. 
Utica,  Synod  of,  exscinded,  483. 

Vandyke,  Andrew,  237. 

Vance,  William,  240,  241. 

Vermont,   Convention  of,    340,  439,  440, 

444,  445. 

Visitation,  family,  61. 
Voluntary  associations, 

relation  of,  to  the  Church,  262,  369. 

abuse  of  powers,  312. 
Vote,  casting,  171,  172,  605. 

excludes  debate,  171,  605. 

Ward,  John,  205. 

Wells,  Shipley,  112. 

Western  Reserve  Synod  exscinded,  483. 

Wiley,  Postmaster,  40. 

Wilful  desertion  ground  of  divorce,  247. 

Witnesses,  husband  and  wife,  198. 

Woodhull,  William,  65,  68. 

Work  of  grace,  24. 

Worship,  family,  61. 

secret,  61. 
Wylie,  Dr.,  193. 

Yeas  and  nays,  605. 

York  Church  case,  613-618. 

Young,  instruction  of,  34,  568,  570-573. 


41 


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